







' .o J 




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FIRST FOREIGN MISSION; 



JOURNEY OF PAUL AND BARNABAS 



ASIA MINOR, 



BY WILLIAM A. ( ALCOTT. 



Written for the Massachusetts Sabbath School Society, and revised 
by the Committee of Publication. 






BOSTON: 

MASSACHUSETTS SABBATH SCHOOL SOCIETY. 
Depository, No. 24, Cornhill. 

1834. 



■fir 



Entered according to act of Congress, in the year 1834, 

By Christopher C. Dean, 
in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of Massachusetts. 



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CONTENTS. 



Preface, ...... 9 

CHAPTER I. 

Remarks about Antioch, — Where it is, — and what sort 

of a place, ..... 13 

CHAPTER II. 

The first Christians, — So called at Antioch. Short ac- 
count of them, ..... 16 

CHAPTER III. 

Short account of Barnabas. A more particular ac- 
count of Paul, . . . . .18 

CAAPTER IV. 

Journey of Barnabas and Paul, from Antioch to Se- 
leucia, — thence to Salamis, on the island of Cy- 
prus, ...... 26 

CHAPTER V. 

They arrive at Salamis and preach there. John Mark 
with them. They go to Paphos. The distance. 
Did they perform the journey by land, or by water? SO 
1* 



vi CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER VI. 

Description of the Island of Cyprus. Its situation and 
extent. Mountains. Climate. People. Cities. 
Minerals. Other Productions, . . .33 

CHAPTER VII. 

Modes of traveling in Cyprus, and in the East generally. 37 

CHAPTER VIII. 

Our travelers arrive at Paphos. Find a sorcerer there. 
The people idolaters. Paul preaches. Sergius 
Paulus, the governor, converted. Elymas, the sor- 
cerer, struck blind, . . . . 40> 

CHAPTER IX. 

Idolatry of Paphos. The missionaries set out for Perga. 
Galleys described. They arrive at Perga. The 
Pergans idolaters. Jolin Mark deserts them, and 
returns to Jerusalem, . . . .43 

CHAPTER X. 

Journey from Perga to Antioch, in Pisidia. Descrip- 
tion of Antioch. A Jewish synagogue. Account of 
it; and the mode of worship. Paul and Barnabas 
attend worship on the Sabbath, — Are invited to 
speak. They accept the invitation, . . 51 

CHAPTER XI. 

Paul's discourse in the synagogue of Antioch. What 

sort of preaching it resembles, . . .56 

CHAPTER XII. 

Effect of Paul's discourse on the Jews. Request of the 
Gentiles. The whole city attend Paul's preaching. 



CONTENTS. vii 

The Jews become envious and angry. Paul and 
Barnabas preach boldly throughout the province. 
The envious and persecuting Jews at last oblige 
them to leave the city, • . . .64 

CHAPTER XIII. 

^Geography of Asia Minor. Manners and Customs 
of the East.— 1. Dress. 2. Food. 3. Drink. 
4. Books and Reading. 5. Mode of Traveling. 
6. Roads. 7. Fields, Domestic animals, &c. 
8. Employments, ..... 72 

CHAPTER XIV. 

Paul and Barnabas arrive at Iconium. Their suc- 
cess in preaching the gospel there. Intriguing 
conduct of the Jews. The missionaries perform 
miracles. Dissension in the city. The opposing 
party about to stone Paul and Barnabas. They 
flee to Derbe and Lystra, . . .99 

CHAPTER XV. 

"The missionaries at Lystra and Derbe. Paul performs 
a miracle at Lystra. The inhabitants take him and 
Barnabas, to be gods ; and are about to offer sa- 
crifices to them. Why Paul and Barnabas did 
not permit it, .... . 105 

CHAPTER XVI. 

Of the means which Paul and Barnabas took to pre- 
vent the people from worshiping them. Their fi- 
nal success, . . . . .112 



viii CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER XVII. 

Reflections on the human character. The Jews from 
Antioch and Iconium persuade the people of Lys- 
tra that Paul and Barnabas are mischief-makers. 
They stone Paul, and drag him out of the city. 
He revives, returns to the city; and the next day, 
goes to Derbe, ..... 115 

CHAPTER XVIII. 

They arrive at Derbe, and teach many. The question 

how long they remained there considered, . 121 

CHAPTER XIX. 

Derbe the end of their journey. They now set out on 
their return. Why they ventured to go through 
Lystra, Iconium and Antioch. Thoughts on the 
duty of a missionary. — Birth-place of Timothy, . 124 

CHAPTER XX. 

Paul and Barnabas, having commenced their return 
homeward, arrive at Lystra. They proceed to 
Iconium, and Antioch. Their stay at the latter 
place. They go to Perga and preach there. Ar- 
rive at Attalia. Voyage to Antioch. Are wel- 
comed by the church, .... 129 

Review of the journey, and concluding remarks, . 134 



PREFACE. 



The purpose which the author of the following 
work hopes to accomplish by its publication, is the 
promotion, in some humble degree, of the great 
cause of evangelical religion among the rising gen- 
eration of our country. 

1. By rendering them more familiar with sacred 
history, geography, and biography. 

2. By giving them (so far as it goes) a correct ac- 
count of that eminent servant of God, the great 
Apostle of the Gentiles. 

3. By encouraging a missionary spirit. 

4. By inculcating, indirectly, some of the great 
leading truths of Christianity, and embodying them 
in holy example. 

The first of these four points, he believes to 
have been greatly neglected in early religious ed- 



ucation. Almost every person is interested in read- 
ing accounts of voyages, travels, &c. in propor- 
tion to his knowledge of the parts of the world whicli 
are visited ; — their situation and extent, and the 
manners, customs, laws, religion, &c. of the inhabi- 
tants. But how few of the young have any correct 
knowledge of this kind in regard to the countries 
once trod by the feet of the Son of God, and those 
eminent saints who accompanied or immediately 
succeeded him ! As to giving a correct account of 
Paul, it is not a little surprising to find occasional 
mistakes in regard to this great man, not only in 
smaller works, but in one or two of our larger ones ; 
such as are usually deemed among the most authen- 
tic and accurate. Perhaps some of our writers on 
this subject have not confined themselves closely 
enough to the Bible, but have fallen into the habit of 
substituting for plain matter of fact, the conjectures 
of themselves or of others. 

The word missionaries has been often substituted 
for the names of Paul and Barnabas ; but not with- 
out reflection. It is believed that while it assists in 
giving reality to the sacred history, it tends also to 
infuse into the youthful mind the idea that every 



PREFACE. xi 

Christian is, or should be, essentially a missionary ; 
and that the Apostles were little more, aside from 
the miraculous powers given them, than eminent 
missionaries, either domestic or foreign. 

The writer believes that among children, at least, 
much more may be done for the cause of God than 
formerly, by presenting religion to their minds em- 
bodied in real life. They are to be shown how 
the true Christian acts, in given circumstances ; 
and how his conduct differs from that of mere people 
of the world. — That the great truths of Christianity 
are to be taught them directly, the writer of these 
pages does not presume to deny ; but he thinks that 
after doing all we can by the latter method, a great 
deal more of permanent good can be effected by 
the former. So much, then, of scripture history and 
biography, if written with great care and in a proper 
spirit, as can be brought before the juvenile mind, 
he deems of the highest possible importance to the 
formation of moral and religious character. 

This volume, and the * Second Foreign Mission,' — 
now in preparation, — (which may be considered as 
the second part of the same work,) are intended for 
the older classes in Sabbath schools, and for Bible 



xii PREFACE. 

Classes, as well as for private family libraries. It 
is sometimes said that a book which is written in 
such a manner as to interest children, will be sure to 
interest parents. Without entertaining high hopes 
of the success of this work, the author would be 
doing injustice to himself not to say that if un- 
wearied pains at accuracy in his statements, purity 
and simplicity of expression, and the inculcation of 
correct Christian sentiments, entitle a work to the 
attention of parents and children, he hopes for read- 
ers from both of these great classes. 
Boston, April, 1834. 



FIRST FOREIGN MISSION. 



CHAPTER I. 

Remarks about Antioch, — Where it is, — and what sort of a 
place. 

If we should set out from Washington, the 
capital of the United States, in a fine, fast sail- 
ing vessel, pass down the Potomac river, through 
the Chesapeake Bay into the ocean, and sail di- 
rectly eastward from Cape Charles and Cape 
Henry at the mouth of the bay, to what part of 
the world should we go 1 

I will tell you. After crossing the Atlantic 
Ocean, which is here 4000 miles wide, we should 
come to a narrow portion of water called the 
Straits of Gibraltar. Passing through these 
straits, and leaving Morocco in Africa, on our 
right hand, and Spain in Europe, on our left, 
we should find ourselves in the Mediterranean 
Sea. Going on almost exactly east, 2240 miles 
from the Straits of Gibraltar, that is 6240 miles 
2 



14 FIRST FOREIGN MISSION. 

from the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay, we 
should again find land, and the mouth of a small 
river. 

The country here, on both sides of the river, 
is called Syria, a part of Turkey in Asia ; and 
the river is the Orontes. Sailing up this river, 
about 20 miles we come to a strange looking city 
on our right hand, called Antakia. It is the an- 
cient Antioch. It is situated 252 miles north of 
Tyre, and 420 northward of Jerusalem. Tar- 
sus, the birth place of Paul, was about 140 miles 
northwestward. 

Antioch was once very splendid ; but it has 
suffered a great many times from wars and earth- 
quakes. During one period of less than 200 
years, it was almost ruined by earthquakes, no 
less than six times. In A. D. 447, it was com- 
pletely demolished, and 250,000 persons were 
crushed in its ruins. A raging fire covered the 
spot for some time, and spread over a tract of 
country as large as the whole state of Rhode Isl- 
and. In A. D. 588, another earthquake destroy- 
ed 60,000 of its inhabitants. The last time it 
suffered in this way was in 1822. Since that 
time, it has never been a very large city. It 
does not now contain more than 10,000 inhabi- 
ants. 



HOUSES IN ANTIOCH. 15 

Shall I stop here to describe their houses ? — 
the porches, the courts, spread with mats and 
carpets, the cloisters, the galleries, the chambers, 
hung (when the people can afford it) with velvet 
or damask, and adorned with hangings of white, 
blue, red, green, and other colors 1 I think we 
should find few houses in Antakia now, that 
would agree with this description ; for the people 
are often very poor, and live in hovels, rather 
than houses. You would be surprised to see 
how different their dwellings appear from ours 
in the United States. And you would find no 
such splendid public buildings with their spires, 
as you see here. 



CHAPTER II. 

The first Christians, — So called at Antioch. Short account 
of them. 

About 1800 years ago, there lived in Antioch, 
a great number of the disciples or scholars of 
Jesus Christ, who had just been crucified at Je- 
rusalem. As Antioch was a place of considera- 
ble trade, people were there from almost all the 
eastern countries; and the disciples of Jesus 
Christ were consequently of many nations, ranks 
and colors. Some were even from the northern 
parts of Africa. 

They had formed themselves into a church, 
and were in the habit of meeting together for 
worship on the Lord's day, and at other times. 
Their desire to obey Christ, in every thing he 
said, and follow him in every thing he did, was 
so great, that they were called after his name ; 
and here it was that the word Christian first 
began to be used. It was probably, for some 



A CHRISTIAN FAST. 17 

time, used reproachfully ; for it was not respect- 
able to be called Christians in those days, as it 
now is. 

The followers of Christ were, at that time, 
very holy and good men. No Christians have 
probably ever lived more according to the will 
of God than they. They watched against sin, 
as well as prayed. They also sometimes fasted. 
In these days, fasting, though equally important 
and useful, is less common. 

While this band of Christians, at Antioch, 
were fasting, one day, and probably praying too, 
the Holy Spirit directed them, in some way 
which they perfectly understood, to appoint two 
of their company, to go and preach the gospel 
in other provinces and countries, where the peo- 
ple had not yet heard of it. 

So when they had fasted and prayed, and laid 
their hands on them, which, I suppose, means 
ordaining them, they sent them away on their 
mission. A particular account of the birth and 
character of these missionaries, will be given 
in the next chapter. 

2* 



CHAPTER III. 

Short account of Barnabas. A more particular account of 
Paul. 

One of the persons selected, appears to have 
been somewhat advanced in years. His name 
was Joseph Barnabas. He was born in Cyprus, 
a beautiful island in the Mediterranean Sea, 
westward of Antioch. He appears to have been 
a very temperate man, and, though considerably 
advanced in life, as able to travel about and un- 
dergo hardship, in preaching the gospel, as he 
ever was. 

Intemperate men at the present day, occasion- 
ally, live to be as old as Barnabas was at this 
time, and even older ; but they generally have 
the gout, the rheumatism, or some other com- 
plaint, which unfits them for business. Barna- 
bas, on the contrary, was, so far as we can learn, 
vigorous and healthy. 

The person singled out by the Holy Spirit to 
accompany Barnabas was quite a young man. 



PAUL'S BIRTH AND EDUCATION. 19 

It is often very proper to unite the old and the 
young in great enterprizes ; for the coolness and 
prudence of the former will often keep down 
the fire, and check the rashness of the latter. 
Many a young man, who, at first, despised an old 
man's counsel, but at length hearkened to it, 
has found reason to be thankful that he did so, 
to the end of his life. 

The character of this young man was so re- 
markable, that, before I go on with my story, it 
will be necessary to give you a more particular 
account of him than I have done of Barnabas. 
His name was Saul ; but he was more generally 
called Paul. Some think the name Paul, which 
means small or little, was given him as a kind of 
nick-name, because he was a man of small size. 
Others think he was called Paul in honor of the 
Roman governor Sergius Paulus, or Paul, whom 
he converted at Paphos ; but nobody Jcnoivs. The 
last conjecture is as reasonable as any. 

He was born in Tarsus, 140 miles north- 
west of Antioch, in the province of Cilicia. 
His parents were Jews, of the sect called Phari- 
sees ; for as Christians and even Mohammedans 
are now divided into different sects, so the Jews 
then were. Paul's parents brought him up in 



20 FIRST FOREIGN MISSION. 

all the customs of their religion, with the ut- 
most strictness. 

It was a rule among the Jews, whether they 
were rich or poor, to bring up every boy to some 
trade ; and this is the rule now, among the 
Mohammedans — and a good one, too. Most 
Christians say they believe it to be a good rule ; 
but there are many rich people called Christians 
who do not practice it. — The Jews had a prov- 
erb : " He that teaches not his son a trade, 
teaches him to be a thief." Paul's parents, 
though not poor, gave him a trade, a useful and 
profitable one. It was that of tent making. 

When he became old enough, he was sent to 
Jerusalem, 420 miles southward of Antioch, and 
placed under the care of a teacher of the law, 
by the name of Gamaliel.* Here he made great 
progress in his studies, and what is of much 
more consequence, his behavior was correct. 
He was regarded as one of the most moral 
young men in all that country. He was, more- 
over, very much attached to his religion. 

* Although we are destitute of any direct Scriptural au- 
thority for saying that Paul received a liberal education at 
Tarsus; yet it appears to me highly probable that he did so; 
and that he went to Jerusalem to complete his studies. Tar- 
sus at that time had so distinguished a school of letters as to 
be compared by Strabo, the historian, with those of Athens 



PAUL'S PREJUDICES. 21 

About the time he became a man he heard of 
the religion of Jesus Christ, which had just then 
begun to prevail in that country. Without ex- 
amining it, he conceived at once a strong dislike 
for it, as well as for those who had been convert- 
ed to it. 

People very often do just as Paul did, and 
condemn a religion, or religious sect about which 
they know very little, perhaps nothing. The 
more ignorant people, however, are generally the 
most forward to do this. When young Paul 
found that the Christians would not give up their 
heresy, as he called it, he became very angry 
with them, and was anxious to have them pun- 
ished. While some of his brethren, the Jews, 
were one day cruelly stoning one of them to 
death, by the name of Stephen, he was present 
and took care of their clothes. It is true, we 
are not told that he, himself, did any thing to 
Stephen, but as he was in company with those 
who murdered him, and took charge of their 
garments, it seems most likely he approved of 
their conduct. 

After this, his hatred of the Christians rose 
into rage ; and he did not hesitate to seize 
them — men, women, and children — wherever he 



22 FIRST FOREIGN MISSION. 

could find them, and imprison them. By his 
own account of his feelings and conduct at this 
time, given in Acts, xxii. chapter, we should be 
apt to think that he sometimes actually put them 
to death. Still we do not certainly know that 
he was concerned in the death of any one but 
Stephen. What he might have done, had God 
permitted him to go on, is still more uncertain ; 
for in general, when we have once begun a 
course of wickedness, we are apt to go from bad 
to worse, till we arrive at the worst of crimes ; 
perhaps even murder. 

Paul was now going on in his wicked course, 
as he supposed prosperously. After he had done 
all the mischief he could at Jerusalem, he went 
to the chief priests and other great men among 
the Jews, and obtained a commission or war- 
rant, to go to Damascus, a journey of 150 miles 
or more, and seize and bind all the Christians 
he could find there, and bring them to Jerusa- 
lem. It is probable, that, when he got them 
there, he meant to shut them up in prison ; — 
perhaps even put them to death. 

Those, who have studied the Old and New 
Testament, know that God often breaks up the 
plans of the wicked. So it was now. As Paul 



PAUL'S CONVERSION. 23 

was on his journey, and had almost reached Da- 
mascus, a great light suddenly appeared, and he 
was struck, amazed, to the ground. But he was 
immediately roused by the voice of some person 
from the heavens, inquiring why he persecuted 
him. Saul, all trembling for fear, anxiously ask- 
ed who was speaking to him in this manner. He 
was told that it was the very Lord and Master 
of the poor people whom he was so cruelly using 
and persecuting. " Lord what wilt thou have 
me to do?" said he. He was directed to stand 
up, and instead of continuing his persecution, to 
go to Damascus, where he would find a man 
who would give him all necessary information, 
in regard to his future course of conduct. 

But how could he get there ? When he fell, 
he had at the same instant been made blind, 
and his sight had not returned to him. So the 
men who were with him, took him by the hand, 
and led him to the city. There a holy man by 
the name of Ananias, who was directed to seek 
him out, cured him of his blindness, and then 
directed him to go and preach the very gospel 
which he had before hated and despised. 

He was accordingly baptized, and boldly 
commenced preaching at Damascus. For some 



24 FIRST FOREIGN MISSION. 

reason to us unknown, he soon left Damascus, 
and went and spent more than two years in 
Arabia. At the end of this time he returned to 
Damascus, and resumed his ministerial labors, 
with more^ boldness than ever. 

But he did not long preach, in peace, at Da- 
mascus. The Jews, enraged at him because 
he had changed his religion and become a 
Christian, sought to destroy him. In one in- 
stance they came so near getting him into their 
hands, that he only escaped by being let down 
from a window, in a basket. 

Driven, thus, from Damascus, he went to Je- 
rusalem. Here he sought out the apostles and 
disciples of the crucified Jesus and wished to 
join them ; but, for some time, they were afraid 
of him. At last Barnabas, a friend of Paul, 
having heard the particulars of his conversion, 
came to Jerusalem, and explained the whole 
matter to them. Upon this, they were no longer 
afraid, but received him with great joy. 

He had been at Jerusalem but a very few 
weeks, however, before his Jewish brethren 
there, began to persecute him. By the advice 
of the apostles, he left Jerusalem and went to 
Cesarea, a place to the northwestward, on the 
sea coast of the Mediterranean. 



PAUL PREACHES AT TARSUS. 25 

At Cesarea, he took passage on board a ves- 
sel, and sailed to Tarsus, his native city. In 
this place, and in the adjoining parts of Cilicia, 
he remained, preaching, as it is supposed, with 
much success five or six years. 

At length his friend Barnabas, who had been 
for some time preaching at Antioch, came to 
Tarsus in pursuit of him. Having persuaded 
him to join him in his labors at Antioch, they 
set out for that city together. Here they both 
remained, till they were sent out by the direc- 
tion of the Holy Ghost, on the first Foreign 
Mission ever undertaken. 



CHAPTER IV. 

Journey of Barnabas and Paul, from Antioch to Seleucia, — 
thence to Salarnis, on the island of Cyprus. 

I have now finished my account of the early 
life of these two travellers, especially of Paul 
the youngest. Very little is known of Barna- 
bas, as you have already seen. We are to think 
of them now, as setting out on a long journey. 

Did you ever see a company of missionaries 
set sail for a distant country 1 Then you have 
witnessed one of the most melting scenes below 
the sun. Fathers, or mothers, or brothers, or 
sisters, or intimate and dear friends — some- 
times all of these together, surround them, per- 
haps, and follow them to the vessel to bid them 
a long farewell. For, besides the dangers of the 
sea, some of them go so far, and to climates so 
unfavorable, that they are never expected to 
return. Neither of the two missionaries, of 
whom we have just been speaking, were at 
home; so that it is quite doubtful whether they 



DEPARTURE FROM ANTIOCH. 27 

had any relatives at Antioch, to witness their 
departure. Paul's relations, as you know, lived 
in Tarsus. The relations of Barnabas, it is 
supposed lived on the island of Cyprus, the very 
place to which they were first going. As for 
John Mark, if he was with them, he, too, was 
from home. His mother lived several hundred 
miles to the southward. 

But if they had no relatives there to surround 
them, in tears, they had friends. All the Christ- 
ians at Antioch were their friends. Christians, 
if they are Christians indeed, — if they are like 
Christ, are always friendly to each other. If 
we find people unfriendly to each other, — no 
matter by what name they are called — of one 
thing we may be sure ; they are not true Christ- 
ians. 

If the friends of Paul and Barnabas shed tears 
at their departure from Antioch, they were 
doubtless tears of joy. They rejoiced, most 
surely, that their fellow men in Cyprus and Asia 
Minor were now about to hear the same " glad 
tidings," which themselves had been hearing ; 
and there is little doubt that they offered up 
many hearty prayers to God for their conversion. 

I have spoken as if they were about to set sail. 



28 FIRST FOREIGN MISSION. 

But they went by land about 20 miles to Seleucia, 
near the mouth of the river. Here they took pas- 
sage on board a vessel, and sailed southwestward 
to the island of Cyprus. 

This journey was commenced about 45 years 
after the birth of the Savior, and about 12 after 
his death. 

In those ancient times, the mariner's com- 
pass was not invented ; so that sailors did not like 
to go far out of sight of land. Then, they could 
steer the vessel well enough by means of the sun, 
the moon, or the stars, as long as it was clear 
weather ; but what if it should be cloudy, or 
stormy 1 They would be in very great danger 
of getting lost. You must remember, however, 
that the Mediterranean Sea, in which Cyprus 
lies, is not very large, and they could no where 
be much more than 200 miles from land. Be- 
sides, Cyprus was quite in the eastern part of this 
sea. It was not more than 60 or 80 miles from 
Seleucia, to the nearest part of it. But Barna- 
bas and Paul did not land at the nearest part of 
the island. They sailed along the southern side 
of it about 50 or 60 miles, till they came to the 
city of Salamis, where they landed and com- 
menced preaching. 

But what sort of a vessel did they sail in ? 



ANCIENT VESSELS. 29 

perhaps you will ask. And it is but fair that I 
should tell you, as well as I can. 

I suppose it was not unlike the one which is 
represented opposite the title page of this book. 
There is some difficulty in procuring an engra- 
ving of an ancient vessel that can be depended 
on ; but this is drawn from representations dug 
up from among the ruins of the ancient city of 
Herculaneum, and is doubtless correct. It was 
about 100 feet long. Its structure is so different 
from that of the vessels of modern days, that it 
needs a little explanation. 

At the left hand, or head of the vessel, you 
see an ornament not unlike the head and neck 
of a goose. At the hinder part, or stern, are 
other ornaments or carvings ; and on the very 
end of the part, which you see projecting out 
there, an idol used to stand, supposed to be the 
protector of the ship. The post or staff, which 
rises up from this end of the vessel, contains the 
flag or banner. You see but one mast, and that 
a short one ; for, in those days, they depended 
much on oars ; of which you see three rows at 
the side, one above another. The man with 
one long oar, is the helmsman. In ancient times, 
they had no rudders but oars. 
3* 



CHAPTER V. 

They arrive at Salamis and preach there. John Mark with 
them. They go to Paphos. The distance. Did they per- 
form the journey by land, or by water? 

The missionaries had now arrived at Salamis. 
This was one of the largest cities on the island ; 
and there were a great many Jewish synagogues 
in it, where the Jews met every seventh, or Sab- 
bath day, for worship. Their Sabbath, you 
know, corresponds to our Saturday. Into these 
synagogues, Barnabas and Paul went every Sab- 
bath, as long as they stayed, and preached to 
the people. w 

You may, perhaps, wonder how the Jews 
came to allow them to do so. You must remem- 
ber, however, that Barnabas and Paul had both 
been Jews themselves, before they were con- 
verted ; and that, as Barnabas was born in Cy- 
prus, and possibly in this very city, he might have 
been among his friends and relations. 

While preaching in Salamis, Barnabas and 



MODE OF TRAVELING. 31 

Paul had a young man with them to assist them, 
whose name was John Mark, who probably came 
with them from Antioch. He was a nephew of 
Barnabas, and perhaps had relations, in Cyprus, 
though his mother lived in Jerusalem. 

After spending a short time in Salamis, they 
traveled on further to the city of Paphos. This 
was a journey of about 100 miles, and probably, 
was performed by land. 

Some think, however, that Paul and Barnabas 
sailed in their journey from Salamis to Paphos, 
instead of traveling by land. But there are 
two reasons against this opinion. 1. The Bible 
speaks of their "going through the isle." Now 
we should hardly say of two travelers, who should 
sail a hundred miles along the coast of Maine, 
stopping at Portland, Bath, Castine, and perhaps 
a few other places, that they had " gone through" 
the State. At least, this is not the most common 
mode of expression. But 2d, The first Christians 
were too poor to send out their missionaries 
in any other way than on foot. When did the 
Savior ride ; except at his triumphant entry into 
Jerusalem, just before he was crucified? Did 
the twelve apostles ever ride 1 Or did the sev- 
enty disciples who were sent out as mission- 
aries ? 



32 FIRST FOREIGN MISSION. 

It is safe to conclude, then, that these two 
travelers walked all the way from Sal amis to 
Paphos, enjoying the prospect, if the season was 
favorable ; for though Cyprus is not now what it 
might be made, it was once like a garden, and 
its rich soil was cultivated by an industrious, 
happy, Christian people. Many of them, are, 
indeed, Christians in name, now; but they have 
very little of the Christian character. 

In the next chapter I will give a particular 
description of this island. 



CHAPTER VI. 

Description of the Island of Cyprus. Its situation and extent. 
Mountains. Climate. People. Cities. Minerals. Oth- 
er Productions. 

What sort of a country do you think Cyprus 
was? Had it hills, and vales, and rivers, and 
mountains, like New England 1 Or was it flat 
and low, like Louisiana or Holland 1 — Or like 
a few countries in the world, was it almost des- 
titute of rivers'? — These and a multitude of other 
questions, which you might ask, in this place, I 
am now about to answer. You should never al- 
low yourselves to read about travels in a country 
without trying to know what sor-t of a country it 
is ; as well as to understand the manners and 
customs of its people. 

The beautiful island of Cyprus is about 140 
miles long from East to West, and 60 wide in 
the widest place. Its shape is a little like that 
of Long Island, southward of Connecticut ; but 
it is two or three times as broad. It is in the 
eastern part of the Mediterranean Sea. 



34 FIRST FOREIGN MISSION. 

Through the middle of Cyprus run two chains 
of high mountains. These mountains, though 
in the latitude of Norfolk in Virginia, are cover- 
ed with snow during the winter, and render the 
climate very cold. But in the summer, the 
weather is intensely hot, especially south of the 
mountains ; for here the people are exposed to 
the Sirocco, a burning wind which blows from 
Africa. There are a few small rivers here, 
which, occasionally, rush down from the moun- 
tains ; but in general they are dry, owing to the 
great scarcity of rain in the island. It is even 
said that once in the days of Constantine, there 
was no rain in the island for thirty years. They 
have dews, however. Many parts of the island 
abound in marshes and ponds, whose waters be- 
come stagnant in the summer, and produce dis- 
eases. 

This island, which is three quarters as large 
as the state of Massachusetts, does not now con- 
tain more inhabitants than Boston. But in the 
time of Paul, or at least not much later, it con- 
tained more than a million : and consisted of 9 
kingdoms. About 1000 years ago, there were, 
on the Island, 12 considerable cities, besides 
many smaller ones; and 805 villages. Nicosia, 



ACCOUNT OF CYPRUS. 35 

the capital, is the only city at present worth men- 
tioning. It may be as large as Salem or Prov- 
idence. Besides this, there are about half a 
dozen small villages. Baffo stands where Pa- 
phos once did. Salamis is not now to be found. 

Cyprus formerly abounded in gold and silver, 
but copper is, at present, the principal mineral. 
The name Cyprus or Cuprus, was probably 
given to this island, because there was so much 
copper there ; though some think it was on ac- 
count of its forests of cypress trees. 

Near the ancient Paphos, asbestos is found, 
from which the Cypriots make the famous min- 
eral doth, which fire cannot consume. — I sup- 
pose you have both heard and read of asbestos. 
Some call it stone flax ; and it has a little resem- 
blance to short bits of chopped flax. 

The sides of the mountains towards the South, 
are thickly clad with woods of oak, pine, cy- 
press, beech, and elm, together with groves of 
olives and plantations of mulberry trees. From 
the latter they make two kinds of silk, yellow 
and white. Along the northern sides of the 
mountains are myrtles and numerous evergreens. 
Every where among the hills and plains, especi- 
ally southward of the mountains, where Barnabas 



36 FIRST FOREIGN MISSION. 

and Paul traveled, we find vines, olives, poppies, 
(for opium,) cotton, lemons, oranges, apricots, 
and wheat. The hyacinth, the single and double 
flowered narcissus, and many other flowers, grow 
without cultivating, and deck the hills, valleys, 
and plains, giving the country the appearance 
and smell of an immense flower garden. 

This was the charming country through which 
Barnabas and Paul traveled, when they set out 
on the first foreign mission ever made. In going 
100 miles from Salamis to Paphos, they might 
pass through a hundred cities and villages, with- 
out going much out of their way. Whether they 
stopped and preached any where on the road, 
we do not certainly know. It is probable they 
did not, however, as nothing is said of any per- 
son's being converted by them, till they came to 
Paphos. 

The Cypriots are generally Greeks, and prob- 
ably were so, when Barnabas and Paul visited 
them. They are of the white or European race, 
though rather darker than we are. They are 
tall, beautiful, and well made, and might be a 
noble race of men, if they took any pains to im- 
prove their minds and hearts. Nearly all they 
seem to care for, is to gratify their appetites. 



CHAPTER VII. 

Modes of traveling in Cyprus, and in the East generally. 

In describing the island of Cyprus, I have an- 
swered some of the questions that a young reader 
will naturally ask, but by no means all. There 
is one thing, in particular, that almost all will 
wish to know more about, — I mean their mode 
of traveling. 

Now I have already told you that people for 
the most part, walked, and that Paul and Bar- 
nabas/probably, traveled in the same way. The 
following are some of my reasons. The Cypriots 
had very few, if any horses, and no camels. 
The rich and great sometimes, indeed, rode upon 
mules ; but Paul and Barnabas were poor. Char- 
iots were not much used, except in war. Indeed 
what carriages they had of any sort, were little 
better than our carts, and were only made to car- 
ry heavy baggage. Dogs and Elephants were 
never used in Cyprus, as beasts of burden or 
draught. 

4 



38 



FIRST FOREIGN MISSION. 



It was just now observed that chariots were 
not much used, except in war. The rich and 
great did, indeed, sometimes, ride in them; espe- 
cially kings, princes and courtiers. A short ac- 
count of these vehicles may not be uninteresting. 

In ancient times they had several kinds of 
chariots. One kind was chariots of war. Saul, 
the king of Israel, had 30,000 of them ; Hada- 
dezer 1000 ; and Sisera 900. Sometimes char- 
iots had sharp scythes fastened to the wheels, 
so that when driven furiously among the enemy 
they made terrible havoc. 




But the chariot, which you see in this picture 



ANCIENT CHARIOTS. 39 

is quite of another kind. It is not made for war ; 
but to travel in, from place to place, in time of 
peace. I suppose you have read in the eighth 
chapter of Acts, about Philip's meeting the eu- 
nuch in a chariot, and talking with him. This 
is the scene represented in the engraving. The 
eunuch's carriage, probably, had but two wheels, 
and was drawn by two horses. Some chariots 
had four wheels. Some were drawn by four 
horses. Those with four wheels were chiefly 
used by princes. 



CHAPTER VIII. 

Our travelers arrive at Paphos. Find a sorcerer there. The 
; people idolaters. Paul preaches. Sergius Paulus the gov- 
ernor converted. Elymas, the sorcerer, struck blind. 

In the days of Barnabas and Paul, Paphos was 
the capital of the island of Cyprus, though not 
the largest city. Here the governor of the island 
lived ; and here, too, as in many cities of the old 
world, the people were plunged in all manner of 
luxury and wickedness. There was a splendid 
temple here, to the goddess Venus, whom the 
Cypriots generally worshiped. 

When our travelers arrived at Paphos, they 
found a sorcerer* or conjurer there, playing his 
tricks for the people to stare at, as well as to get 

* There were in those days, many instances of sorcery 
among the Jews, either real or pretended. Probably the ene- 
my of all good stirred up wicked men more than usual just at 
this time, and induced them to work sorceries, in order to bring 
the real miracles of Christ and his apostles into disrepute, and 
no doubt he sometimes gained his purpose, at least among the 
weak and ignorant. Even Marcus Antoninus boasted that by 
conversing with Diogenetus he had learned to despise all sto- 
ries of miracles and dispossessions. 



ELYMAS THE SORCERER. 41 

their money. He was bred a Jew, and his name 
was Elymas. He was found just at that time, 
with Sergius Paulus, the governor, and an ex- 
cellent man ; but it is difficult to conceive how 
so wise and good a man as the governor, came 
to have a sorcerer with him. 

"When Sergius Paulus heard of the arrival of 
our two travelers, in Paphos, he sent for them 
to his house to hear them preach, and was atten- 
tive to what they said. But Elymas, the sorcer- 
er, set himself against them, and was neither 
willing to hear them preach himself, nor let the 
governor hear them in peace. One might think 
that if a person did not wish to hear a preacher 
himself, he would let others alone. But it was 
not so with Elymas. His conduct might be 
compared with that of the " the dog in the man- 
ger," who would not eat the hay himself, nor let 
any other animal eat it. 

When Saul had borne with the wicked sor- 
cerer, for some time, he left off speaking to the 
governor and pronounced a most severe judg- 
ment of Heaven upon him. Good men cannot 
be required to bear, always, with such gross in- 
sult and opposition ; though they are not em- 
powered, in these days, to work miracles to con- 
4* 



42 FIRST FOREIGN MISSION. 

vince wicked men of their folly and the malice 
of their hearts. In general it is our business to 
go away and leave them, without saying a word. 
But God had ordered otherwise, in the present 
instance. 

The sentence of the Apostle was as follows : 
— ■" Oh thou child of the devil ; thou enemy of 
all righteousness ; wilt thou not cease to pervert 
the right ways of the Lord? And now behold 
the hand of the Lord is upon thee, and thou 
shalt be blind, not seeing the sun for a season." 
He had scarcely said this before Elymas was 
in thick darkness, so that he could not see the 
brightest light of the sun, and he went groping 
about trying to find some person who was will- 
ing to lead him. 

When the governor saw what a wonderful 
miracle was wrought, he was astonished, and 
believed that Barnabas and Paul were sent by 
God ; and that the doctrines, which they had 
been preaching, were true. 



CHAPTER IX. 

Idolatry of Paphos. The missionaries set out for Perga. Gal- 
leys described. They arrive at Perga. The Pergans idol- 
aters. John Mark deserts them, and returns to Jerusalem. 

Before the arrival of Barnabas and Paul in 
the island of Cyprus, the inhabitants of Paphos 
had worshiped a large idol by the name of Fie- 
nus. After the conversion of such a distinguish- 
ed man as Sergius Paulus, the governor, it was 
natural enough for others to think on the subject ; 
and it was not long before a considerable number 
of the people became Christians. They left off 
bowing down to things which can neither see 
hear, nor feel, and began to worship that God, 
who is a Spirit, in spirit and in truth. 

The Christian religion, at length, spread all 
over the island. And to this very year there 
have always been many in the island who have 
been called Christians, but for many centuries 
past they have behaved so ill as to be unwor- 
thy of the Christian name. — But although Paul 



44 FIRST FOREIGN MISSION. 

and Barnabas were the means of converting ma- 
ny of the inhabitants of Paphos to the truth, 
before they left there, it was nearly 400 years 
before the idol Venus was entirely neglected. 

Paul, and Barnabas, and John, now embarked 
on board a vessel, at Paphos, to sail for Perga, in 
Pamphylia. Pamphylia was a province of Asia 
Minor, northwestward of Cyprus. Perga, one 
of its cities, was about 140 miles from Paphos, 
or as far as from Boston to New Haven, in Con- 
necticut. 

But what sort of a vessel did they sail in this 
time ? Was it of the same kind with that for- 
merly mentioned, in which they embarked from 
Seleucia? I think it must have been. The ves- 
sels in which Paul pursued all his voyages, — and 
he made a great many — were probably the same, 
unless when he went from Cesarea to Rome, 
as described in the 27th chapter of Acts. Then, 
as he went with soldiers, it is possible they went 
in a galley, or war vessel. These galleys were 
of two kinds. One kind had both sails and 
oars ; the other had oars only. If Paul went to 
Rome in a galley, it must have been one that 
had sails. We do not recollect that rowing gal- 
leys are expressly mentioned any where in the 
Bible, except in Isaiah, 33: 21. 



ancient rowing galleys. 



45 



It may interest you to see the following pic- 
ture of two ancient rowing galleys. It is not 
quite certain that the picture is correct, though 
it is presumed it does not vary much from the 
truth. 




ROWING GALLEYS. 

Ancient galleys were of various sizes. The 
largest kind was 162 feet long and 32 wide ; 
nearly as long as a 74 gun ship, but more nar- 
row, and in general not quite so high. They 
were furnished with 32 banks or rows of oars, 
every bank having two oars. Each of these oars 



46 FIRST FOREIGxN MISSION. 

was rowed by 6 or 7 slaves, who were chained 
to them, usually as a punishment. They are 
sometimes called galley slaves. A large galley 
contained, of course, from 384 to 442 men, who 
labored at the oars. Each had three masts be- 
sides. The whole number of men, usually re- 
quired to manage one of them, was from 1000 
to 1200. This is as many as it takes to manage 
a 74 gun ship, if not more. 

Another kind was called half galleys. They 
had two masts, and 25 banks of oars. They 
were 120 feet long, and 18 or 20 broad. There 
was another kind still smaller, carrying only 12 
or 15 banks of oars. They were called quarter 
galleys. In later years, the two larger sizes of 
galleys, used to have several pieces of cannon 
on board. 

The engraving represents these galleys on a 
very small scale, compared with the vessel at the 
title page. It represents, too, the smaller kind, 
without sails, and, of course, with but few men. 
But you see a little of their structure, — their car- 
ved animals with head and neck, and a human 
face below ; their oars, ornaments, &c. 

It is believed that our two missionaries, Paul 
and Barnabas, set out for Perga, early in the 



VOYAGE TO PERGA. 47 

morning. I have already told you that in those 
days, they had no such thing as a compass or a 
chart, and that mariners did not like to venture 
far out of sight of land, if they could help it. 
But in sailing from Paphos to Perga, unless they 
set out very early in the morning, they could 
hardly have expected to get near the coast of 
Asia Minor before night. But if they set sail at 
the dawn of day, with a fair wind, they probably 
came along the coast of Asia at evening, and 
sailing near it all that night and the next day, 
they must have reached Perga by the evening of 
the second day ; perhaps by the middle of the 
afternoon. 

Perga was situated on the river Cestros, per- 
haps 30 or 40 miles from its mouth. It was at that 
time a very large city, though, at present, it is 
but little known. 

They did not remain long at Perga. The 
people of this city, like those of Paphos, were 
idolaters. They did not worship Venus, it is 
true, but Diana, which amounted to nearly the 
same thing. Her image is supposed to have 
stood on a mountain not far from the city. Here 
is a picture of it. You will find, however, if 
you consult Camlet's Dictionary, that this god- 



48 



FIRST FOREIGN MISSION 



dess was represented in different ways, at differ- 
ent places. 




The numerous priests and worshipers of this 
goddess would be very likely to set themselves 
with violence against Paul and Barnabas, and 
compel them to depart. Besides, there was no 
wealthy or influential Serguis Paulus here, to 



JOHN MARK'S DESERTION. 49 

take them into his house, and protect them, and 
find them a place to preach ; and we do not 
learn that any of their brethren, the Jews, resid- 
ed in this city. 

While they were at Perga, John Mark left 
them suddenly, and returned to Jerusalem. We 
cannot learn from the Bible why he deserted 
them, now that they had apparently got through 
with almost all the perils and dangers of their 
journey. — Probably it arose from a natural timid- 
ity. Perhaps, too, he was home-sick. I am hard- 
ly willing to attribute it to want of love to God 
and his fellow-men. But, be that as it may, it is 
quite certain that Paul was not pleased with his 
going back ; for it appears that sometime after- 
ward, when they were talking of going the 
same journey again, and Barnabas wished to 
take Mark, Paul would not consent to it. — 
There are always some young men, — it is 
strange it should be so, — who will do nothing 
effectual in life, simply because they have not 
courage to remain from home, a little while, let 
duty call them ever so loudly. It is right to 
value home, and friends, and country ; but hav- 
ing once made up our minds, by, and with the 
advice of our friends, to go abroad, for us to go 
5 



50 FIRST FOREIGN MISSION. 

half way and then hasten back again, without a 
good reason, is shameful. Why, John Mark was 
in company, with the first foreign missionaries 
that were ever sent out. What honor like this ! 
What a pity that he should have shrunk back 
from the enterprize ! 



CHAPTER X. 

Journey from Perga to Antioch in Pisidia. Description of 
Antioch, A Jewish synagogue. Account of it ; and the mode 
of worship. Paul and Barnabas attend worship on the 
Sabbath, — Are invited to speak. They accept the invitation. 

From Perga, they went northward into the 
Province of Pisidia. The capital of Pisidia was 
Antioch. It was about 100 miles from Perga 
and probably 230 eastward of the city of Smyr- 
na. Here they arrived, and preached for some 
time. Antioch, in Pisidia, was a much smaller 
city than Antioch in Syria, from which they set 
out ; but it was a city of some consequence to 
Paul and Barnabas, for here there were more 
Jews and fewer idolaters, than in Paphos and 
Perga. 

There was a synagogue at Antioch. Some 
think there were several. How this may be, we 
do not know. There certainly was one. In 
large cities where the people were nearly all 
Jews, synagogues were usually pretty numerous. 



52 FIRST FOREIGN MISSION. 

It is said there were at Jerusalem, at one period, 
no less than 480 of them. 

But perhaps you do not quite understand what 
a synagogue is, and how it differs from a Christ- 
ian Church. 

The building was usually on a hill, and con- 
sisted of two parts. In the western part they 
kept the ark or chest, in which the book of the 
law and the writings of the prophets were depos- 
ited. This western part of the building they 
called the temple. The eastern part was called 
the body of the church. Here the people always 
sat, during worship, with their faces towards the 
temple. The elders sat in the other part of the 
building, that is the temple, with their faces in 
the other direction : so that both the elders and 
the people looked towards the centre of the build- 
ing. The seats of the elders were regarded as 
more holy than the others. In the space, at the 
centre, was the pulpit, or reading desk. 

Every synagogue has three rulers. These 
are persons set over it. They are a kind of 
judges ; and at the same time, its overseers. 
The minister or angel of the congregation prays 
and preaches. The service is as follows : — 



JEWISH MODE OF WORSHIP. 53 

The people and elders being seated, as I have 
already described, the minister ascends the pul- 
pit and prays. During prayer, all the people rise 
and stand. The number of prayers is nineteen. 
At the close, a kind of anethema or curse upon 
certain wicked characters, is read over. Then 
they repeat their 'phylacteries. Phylacteries are 
little rolls of parchment, on which words of the 
law are wrtten. They wear these on their 
foreheads, and on their left wrists. Those 
which are worn on the forehead, are some- 
times called frontlets. 

Those that are fastened to the arm, are rolled 
up to a point, and enclosed in a sort of case, 
made of black calf-skin. They are then put 
upon a square bit of stiffer leather, from which 
hangs down others of the same, of a finger's 
breadth, and a cubit and a half long. 

The next exercise consists in reading from 
the law and the prophets. Then they all sit, 
except the minister. In the time of Paul and 
Barnabas, they had no printed books, such as 
we have. They wrote on parchment, and rolled 
it up, so that when the Scripture mentions a 
book, it means such a roll. While reading, 
they held it in their hands, and as they rolled off 
5* 



54 



FIRST FOREIGN MISSION. 



with the left hand, they rolled on with the right; 
as you see in the engraving. 




The last part of the worship of the syna- 
gogue consists in explaining, or expounding, the 
scriptures, and preaching from these to the peo- 
ple. The exercise was something like one of 
our sermons, or more like what is commonly 
called an exhortation. I shall describe one of 
them soon. This expounding of the scriptures 
was usually done, either by one of the rulers, or 
the minister, or some other officer of the syna- 
gogue, but if any distinguished stranger was 
present, he was often invited to do it. 



DUTY OF ATTENDING CHURCH. 55 

Our Savior very often performed this service; 
and so did his disciples. So also did Paul and 
Barnabas, at Salamis and elsewhere, as I have 
already told you. The Savior, and Paul, and 
Barnabas, and almost all the first apostles and 
disciples, were Jews ; and when they became 
Christians they did not, for some time, leave off 
keeping the seventh day holy, but were usually 
in the habit of attending worship, at the syna- 
gogues. 

Some people will not go to church at all, if 
they cannot go to just such a place as pleases 
them. Now it is right that we should have a 
choice where to go ; but it is better to go where 
we are not quite so well pleased, than to stay at 
home. 

On the first Sabbath after Paul and Barnabas 
arrived at Antioch, they went to the synagogue. 
When the time for preaching, or expounding, 
came, the rulers of the synagogue invited them 
to speak. Paul gladly accepted the offer. 



CHAPTER XL 

Paul's discourse in the synagogue of Antioch. What sort of 
preaching it resembles. 

Paul, as we have already seen, had accepted 
an invitation from the Jews in the synagogue at 
Antioch, to address them. He stood up in the 
place appropriated to public speakers, and after 
beckoning with his hand, proceeded in a man- 
ner like the following : — 

Men of Israel, and all of you who fear God, 
and are assembled to worship him, with devout 
hearts, this day, I beg your patient attention to 
what I am about to offer. 

The God of this peculiar people, (for such 
the Jews undoubtedly are,) graciously chose our 
pious and venerable forefathers, Abraham, Isaac 
and Jacob, to be the objects of his special favor ; 
and for their sakes, was pleased to promise im- 
portant blessings to their offspring. He took 
them under his protection, from their first begin- 



PAUL PREACHES AT ANTIOCH. 57 

ning, and raised them from that prostrate and 
dejected state in which they were while sojourn- 
ing in Egypt under the tyranny of Pharaoh ; 
and, to deliver them from oppression, led them 
out of the country, with an uplifted and extended 
arm ; displaying his power and pleading their 
cause by a series of the most astonishing mira- 
cles. 

For about forty years he bore with their con- 
duct in the wilderness, ungrateful and perverse 
as they were ; carrying them through a course of 
education, to form them, in those retired circum- 
stances, to the habit of observing that excellent 
system of laws, which he then thought fit to 
give them. When this long and painful pilgrim- 
age was ended, having cast out seven mighty 
nations, which had been settled in the land of 
Canaan, and had erected more than thirty strong- 
ly fortified kingdoms there, he distributed the 
whole country to them for an inheritance, and 
supported them in it, for many generations. 

After these transactions, which occupied about 
450 years of the history of the Israelites, God 
gave them a series of judges, by whose heroic 
exertions they were often delivered from those 
repeated oppresions and miseries which their 



58 FIRST FOREIGN MISSION. 

frequent revolts to idolatry had brought upon 
them. This continued, with some intervals, 
till the time of Samuel the prophet, who was the 
last of these judges. 

About this time they desired a king, that they 
might be like other nations ; forgetting that God 
himself, had hitherto sustained the relation of 
a king to them. Their request was granted. — 
The first king God gave them was Saul the son 
of Kish, of the tribe of Benjamin; and his gov- 
ernment, together with that of Samuel the proph- 
et, lasted forty years. But having, in his right- 
eous dipleasure, rejected Saul, and for his rebel- 
lion against his command in the business of 
Amalek, as well as for other crimes of an ag- 
gravated nature, removed him from the throne, 
God raised up David to reign in Saul's stead. 
To this most excellent man, so justly esteemed 
in all later ages, God himself gave a glorious 
testimony in his word, when he said ; " I have 
found David, the son of Jesse, a man after 
mine own heart, who shall do all my will. 

From this David the Messiah was to descend ; 
and by a special covenant with him, God assured 
him that his throne should be established to all 



PAUL'S DISCOURSE. 59 

generations. Now, therefore, of this man's pos- 
terity, God, according to a promise often re- 
peated, hath raised up unto Israel, Jesus the 
Savior. He it is who has been so long and 
so often foretold in the sacred oracles ; and 
He it is whom I am this day come to preach to 
you. This divine person, so long promised, and 
so much expected, appeared in the world just 
at the time, and under the circumstances, which 
our sacred books mention. 

To the divine character of Jesus, John the 
Baptist also testified. For having been sent 
before him as his herald, and having preached 
the baptism of repentance to all the people, and 
nearly fulfilled the work assigned him, he said 
to his followers : " Whom think ye that I am?" 
I am not Christ, neither do I pretend to be. 
But behold there cometh one after me, the shoes 
of whose feet I am not worthy to unloose." 

And now brethren, all of you who acknowl- 
edge yourselves to be of the stock of Abraham, 
and, in fact, all of you who really fear and love 
and serve God, from whatever family or nation 
you may have descended, let me solemnly as- 
sure you that these things are of great and last- 
ing importance to you all. For though Divine 



60 FIRST FOREIGN MISSION. 

Providence has cast your lot at a considerable 
distance of time and place, from those when 
and where these great events happened, yet the 
word of salvation is sent to you, as well as to 
others. You have even some advantages over 
many of them that saw and heard Jesus, since 
you have fewer prejudices to overcome. But 
the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and the country 
round about, and their rulers, though they read 
or heard the sayings of the prophets concern- 
ing the Messiah, every Sabbath day in the syna- 
gogues, and saw his miracles, many of them, 
yet they hated him, and by their effort finally 
had him condemned. And though they found 
no cause of death in him, yet they were urgent 
with the Roman governer, to have him executed. 
Thus, unwittingly, did these wicked men fulfil 
the prophecies. Having effected his destruction 
on the cross, and having witnessed his death, in 
the midst of ignominy and torture, they took his 
body down, at length, and permitted his friends 
to bury it, in a tomb. And though they took 
the utmost pains to guard it, God raised it 
from the dead on the third day, as Jesus himself 
had repeatedly foretold would be done. After 
he was risen, he appeared for several days to 



PAUL'S DISCOURSE CONTINUED. 61 

his disciples and others, and, in one instance, 
to about five hundred persons at once. Many 
of these are still living witnesses to the fact ; 
and if any of you should go to Jerusalem, you 
can hear the story from their own mouths. 

We, therefore, come to you this day with these 
glad tidings, that the Savior is risen ; and that 
the very promise which God had made to our 
fathers, and which has been such a source of 
hope and joy through successive ages, is now 
fulfilled : Jesus is risen from the dead. 

By this resurrection God has declared, too, in 
the most convincing manner, that the Messiah is 
his Son ; so that the morning of his resurrection 
was, as it were, the birth day of his reign ; and 
it is accordingly said in the second Psalm : 
" Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten 
thee." Besides, as he had raised him from the 
dead, to return no more to the grave, the place 
of putrefaction, he hath said by the prophet : " I 
will give you the sure mercies of David." And 
in another place : " Thou wilt not suffer thine 
Holy One to see corruption." 

Now it is evident that these sayings cannot 
refer to the inspired writer himself, but to some 
other person ; for David, by whom the psalm was 
6 



62 FIRST FOREIGN MISSION. 

written, certainly, died, and was gathered, to 
his fathers : and his body, being laid in the 
grave, became subject to putrefaction, like other 
human bodies. But the body of Jesus, as I 
have already told you, underwent no such 
change. His body was laid in the grave only 
the evening before the Sabbath, and was raised 
early the morning after it ; that is after one 
whole day, and a small part of two others. 

Be it known, therefore, to you all, that by this 
glorious and exalted Being, I this day proclaim 
to you the remission of your sins, be they ever so 
great and aggravated, provided you believe in 
him, and lead such an holy and unblameable life 
and as he himself led and commanded. And 
through faith in him, every one of you may be 
fully and freely justified and acquitted before 
God, not only from the guilt of smaller sins, but 
from those which are greater, and from which 
you could not be justified by the law of Moses. 

This is the substance of my message. See, 
then, as you value your own souls, that you do 
not reject it ; for the prophets Isaiah and Ha- 
bakkuk speak of the guilt of rejecting good 
tidings in the most terrible language ; " Behold, 
ye despisers, and wonder and perish; for I 



PAUL'S DISCOURSE ENDED. 63 

work a work in your days which ye will in no 
wise believe, though a man declare it unto 
you." — Beware then what you do, for if you 
now reject the good tidings which I am come to 
bring you, of Christ and his salvation, God will 
bring a destruction upon you of such a nature 
that if it were described to you, in all its terrors, 
it would appear much more incredible, than did 
the desolation with which your fathers were 
threatened, but which they found, to their cost, 
was fully executed upon them. 

This is a sketch of Paul's sermon. In pre- 
senting it to you, I have used language somewhat 
different from that of the New Testament, but 
have endeavored to preserve the sentiment. And 
in doing this, I confess myself very much indebt- 
ed to Dr. Doddridge's Family Expositor. 

What effect the discourse had on those who 
heard it, we shall see in the next chapter. I 
will only say, in this place, that we have in it a 
specimen of that plain, direct preaching of the 
cross of Christ, which was so successfully imitat- 
ed by the Moravians, in their attempts to convert 
the Green! anders. 



CHAPTER XII. 

Effect of Paul's discourse on the Jews. Request of the Gen- 
tiles. The whole city attend Paul's preaching. The Jews 
become envious and angry. Paul and Barnabas preach 
boldly throughout the province. The envious and persecut- 
ing Jews at last oblige them to leave the city. 

Paul, as we all know, was a Jew ; and the 
Jews thought themselves better than all other 
nations ; whom they called Gentiles. When 
any of them became converted to the Christian 
religion, it did not open their hearts towards the 
Gentiles. It never came into their minds that 
they had any thing to do with Christianity. 
The Messias was to descend from David, and 
was to be a king of the Jews ; what could he 
or they have to do with the Gentiles 1 

Bat Paul had got over this prejudice. At the 
time he was struck down near Damascus, it had 
been told him that he would be sent not only ta 
preach to the Jews, but also far off, to the Gen- 
tiles. 



PAUL'S INSTRUCTION. 65 

When his discourse to the Jews at Antioch 
was ended, and he came out of the synagogue, 
the Gentiles collected around him and Barnabas, 
and begged that they might hear the same dis- 
course the next Sabbath ; and it appears from 
what follows that he gave encouragement that he 
would preach to them. 

The people in general now separated, and went 
to their respective homes. Many of the Jews, 
however, who believed what Paul had been say- 
ing, followed him and Barnabas to their lodg- 
ings. There they gave them further instruction, 
and exhorted them to continue steadfast in the 
faith which they had adopted. When people are 
willing and anxious to know about the things of 
God, and the salvation of their own souls, there 
is almost always some body at hand to instruct 
them. The great point is to be willing. 

One writer of the life and travels of the apos- 
tle Paul says, that he spent the week upon which 
he had now entered, in " zealously preaching 
throughout the city ;" but I am quite at a loss 
where he obtained his information. Not surely 
in the Bible. I could mention several reasons 
why it is probable he did not ; but it is unneces- 
sary. 

6* 



66 FIRST FOREIGN MISSION. 

When the next Sabbath day came, nearly all 
the inhabitants of the city, — old and young, 
males and females, Jews and Gentiles, believers 
and idolaters, — collected together in a crowd to 
hear the " strange doctrine," as they probably 
called it. The same " Life of Paul," of which 
I have just spoken, says, they "crowded to the 
synagogue ;" but would the Jews, in the first 
place, allow of this 1 And in the second place, 
if they were willing, could they get in? Why 
the Bible says " that almost the whole city" came 
together " to hear the word of God." We do 
not know exactly, how large the city was ; but 
there is good reason to believe it contained peo- 
ple enough to fill more than one, or even two, syn- 
agogues. 

The greater probability is that Paul preached 
to them in the open air ; not at the synagogue,. 
but in some grove, or under some shade tree. 
In these days, when a congregation is so large 
that the house of worship will not hold them, they 
sometimes very properly meet in a grove, if the 
weather is favorable. — It is possible, indeed, that 
Paul, in the present case, might have stood at 
the door of the synagogue ; the Jews being with- 
in, and the rest of the people around the door. 



THE JEWS BLASPHEME. 67 

But, let this be as it may, the Jews, we are told, 
ivere displeased to see such multitudes come to- 
gether. We may think it strange that they 
should be unwilling to have people hear the gos- 
pel, but so it was. I have already intimated that 
they thought very meanly of every body but their 
own nation ; so that when they found Paul dis- 
posed to teach the Gentiles, as well as them- 
selves, they were very much offended. Paul was 
becoming popular among them ; and this, too, 
probably made them anxious. 

And what did they do 1 Why they did exactly 
ivhat many people do now-a-days. If displeased 
with something the minister says or does, instead 
of going to him privately, and telling him of it, 
in a friendly manner, they complain, publicly, 
that he preaches bad doctrine ; and begin to find 
fault and contradict. The Jews not only found 
fault and contradicted, but blasphemed the name 
of Jesus Christ. 

Paul and Barnabas both appear to have con- 
ducted very properly on this occasion. They did 
not return their improper and violent language. 
They were disciples of a Master who does not 
allow of this. If men revile the disciples of 
Christ, they are not to revile back again ; if 



68 FIRST FOREIGN MISSION. 

they persecute them, they are not to oppose, or 
even use threatening, but to pass it over in si- 
lence ; and forgive their persecutors, and pray for 
them. This, I say, is the general rule. There 
are instances where the honor of God will not 
allow us to be wholly silent. Such was the case 
in the present instance. The Jews had not only 
spoken against Paul and Barnabas (for this they 
could and ought to have borne,) but against their 
crucified Master. Now, therefore, it was prop- 
er that they should speak out boldly. And this 
they both did. 

It was perfectly right and proper, and neces- 
sary, they said, that the gospel should be preach- 
ed to the Jews in the first place. If they re- 
ceived it, very well. " But seeing ye thrust it 
from you," they observed, and "judge yourselves 
unworthy of everlasting life, lo, we turn to the 
Gentiles." 

Paul then went into a short explanation. He 
told them how God had set him to be a light to 
the Gentiles ; and that while the labors of the 
Lord's other apostles were more immediately 
confined to Judea, he was to go and carry the 
glad tidings of a crucified and risen Savior to 
all parts of the then known world, whether ^in- 
habited bv Jews or Gentiles. 



THE JEWS PERSECUTE. 69 

All this, however, made no impression on the 
Jews, unless to confirm their prejudices, and 
increase their envy and ill will. But the Gen- 
tiles received the intelligence with great joy, 
and with much thankfulness to God ; and many 
of them immediately became zealous and warm- 
hearted believers of the gospel. 

Paul and Barnabas, encouraged by this suc- 
cess, did not hesitate to go abroad, every where, 
and preach the word of God with great boldness. 
It is not improbable that they visited every vil- 
lage and city in the province of Pisidia. What 
success they had, in other cities besides Anti- 
och, we have no means of knowing with cer- 
tainty. The conduct of the Jews would seem 
to show, however, that they continued to meet 
with success ; for they raised a persecution 
against them. And what is more remarkable, 
they enlisted in their persecuting scheme some 
of the very best people in Antioch, not a few 
of whom were ladies, and zealous and devout in 
the Jewish religion. 

What strange ideas people must have, who 
suppose that they are truly religious, and yet al- 
low themselves to persecute others ! But this is 
not uncommon. The Jews are not the only peo- 



70 FIRST FOREIGN MISSION. 

pie who claim to be religious, and yet allow 
themselves in persecution. Christian sects have 
done the same thing, not against people of an- 
other religion merely, but also against those who 
are of the same religion with themselves, though 
differing a little in matters of opinion. " These 
things ought not so to be." Such was not the 
spirit of Christ. 

Who has not read how James and John, the 
disciples of our Lord, were one day offended 
with the Samaritans, because they would not let 
them pass through a certain village ; and how 
they asked their Lord if they should not com- 
mand fire to come down from heaven, as Elijah 
did upon the wicked messengers of king Ahab, 
and destroy them ? But who does not remem- 
ber, too, the mild but excellent rebuke of Jesus : 
" Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of." 

This is the temper which we must all mani- 
fest, if we would be the disciples of Christ ; for 
"if any man have not his spirit, he is none of his." 
If people refuse to let us pass a certain road, we 
should remember the example of the Savior, on 
the occasion just mentioned, and go round some 
other way. 

The persecution at Antioch, against Paul and 



PAUL LEAVES ANTIOCH. 71 

Barnabas, at length rose to such a height, that 
they could not safely stay there. So they shook 
off the dust of their feet against them* and went 
to another part of the country. In this way they 
complied with a command of their Lord and 
Master : " When they persecute you in one city, 
flee ye into another.' 3 The world was wide be- 
fore them, and God was with them in one place, 
as well as another. They doubtless believed so, 
and enjoyed the comfort it gave them ; for in 
spite of their " tribulation," we are told they 
were " filled with joy, and with the Holy Ghost." 

* The Jews thought that all the dust, in the land of the 
Gentiles, was so impure, that theyjwould not even suffer herbs 
to be brought from a Gentile country, lest some fragments of 
the soil should happen to adhere to them. The custom of 
shaking the dust off from their feet was, therefore, a mark of 
abhorrence ; and hence when Paul and Barnabas were driven 
out of Antioch they shook off the dust of their feet against 
their persecutors, as a " testimony against them." 



CHAPTER XIII.* 

Geography of Asia Minor. Manners and Customs of the 
East. — 1. Dress. 2. Food. 3. Drink. 4. Books and 
Reading. 5. Mode of Traveling. 6. Roads. 7. Fields* 
Domestic animals ; &c. 8. Employments. 

"When we are reading the accounts of trav- 
elers, it is always desirable to know the manners 
and customs of the people among whom they 
traveled ; the situation of their country, &,c. 
Such a knowledge helps much to give reality to 
what we read. For want of it, even the Bible, 
to many people, seems more like fiction than 
any thing real. Though they believe there were 
such men as Abraham, and Moses, and David, 
and Daniel, and Paul, yet they seem to only half 
believe it. They do not, in imagination, see 
how they looked, — how they were dressed, — 

* I have found it necessary to extend this chapter rather 
more than I had at first intended, to prevent the neces- 
sity of repetition, in Part II. I trust, it will not be without 
interest however, independently of its connection with any 
other volume. 



ACCOUNT OF ASIA MINOR. 73 

how they behaved, — how they journeyed, that 
is, whether on foot, or in what other manner, — 
what they ate, drank &c, — and what sort of a 
country they lived in, and how it appeared. 

Now unless we can imagine we see how these 
things are with travelers, as we go along with 
their accounts, although we have ever so much 
confidence in their truth, we do not enter fully 
into the spirit of their stories ; and cannot, if 
we would. In this view, I have determined, be- 
fore proceeding further with the travels of our 
two missionaries, to tell you something about 
Asia Minor, the country in which they traveled ; 
and about the manners and customs and char- 
acter of its inhabitants. 

GEOGRAPHICAL ACCOUNT OF ASIA MINOR. 

Asia minor, as it was called in ancient times, 
was a large country lying between the Euxine, or 
Black sea, on the north, the rest of Asia, or Asia 
Major on the east, the Mediterranean Sea, on 
the south, and that part of the latter sea which 
is usually known by the name of the Archipela- 
go, on the west. It lies between 36 and 42 de- 
grees of North latitude, and between 26 and 38 
degress of East longitude, from London. It was 
7 



74 FIRST FOREIGN MISSION. 

about 600 miles in extent from east to west, and 
400 from north to south. It now constitutes the 
north-western part of Turkey in Asia, and is 
called Anatolia. 

Asia Minor formerly comprised the provinces 
of Bithynia, Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Cili- 
cia, Pamphylia, Pisidia, Lycaonia, Phrygia, My- 
sia, Troas, Lydia, Caria, Doris, and Lycia. — 
Sometimes it is evident, however, that by Asia, 
the Scripture means only a part of the above 
mentioned countries ; viz. Troas, Mysia, Lydia, 
Caria, Doris, &c. lying in the west and south- 
west. [See the map, representing Asia Minor, 
except the northern parts, around the Euxine or 
Black sea, which are omitted.] 

In the western part of this tract of country, 
were the seven churches of Asia, spoken of in 
the Revelation ; and off the coast, are a great 
number of small, though fertile islands, among 
which we find Patmos, to which place the apostle 
John was banished, and where the Revelation 
was written. 

Asia Minor is generally hilly, though it can 
hardly be called mountainous. — Mount Taurus, 
stretching across the southern part of Asia Mi- 
nor, and Mount Olympus across the northern, 



76 FIRST FOREIGN MISSION. 

are the principal ranges of mountains. Between 
these two ranges is a belt of elevated country, 
not unlike the table lands of Mexico and some 
other countries, though not quite so level as 
some portions of table land. From these ranges 
there are declivities northward, southward, and 
westward ; giving a determination to the streams 
that empty themselves, respectively, into the 
Euxine sea, the Mediterranean, and the Archi- 
pelago. 

The country abounds in small rivers, especial- 
ly in the west ; but the largest river is the Ha- 
lys, which empties into the Euxine sea on the 
north. 

Tarsus in Cilicia, where Paul was born, was 
in the south eastern part of Asia Minor, near 
the borders of Syria. The provinces in which 
he and Barnabas were now traveling as mission- 
aries, — the provinces of Phrygia, Pamphylia, 
and Pisidia, — were about half w r ay from the east- 
ern to the western part of the country, and to- 
wards the south. They did not probably go 
much more than 100 miles northward into the 
interior, from the sea shore. They were per- 
haps from 150 to 180 miles from Tarsus ; near- 
ly 300 miles from Antioch ; and 700 from Jeru- 
salem. 



DRESS, IN THE EAST. 77 

The inhabitants of this country were probably 
a mixture of Jews and Greeks. Many of the 
latter were idolaters, and some of them very vi- 
cious. The people of some of the provinces — 
Cappadocia for example — were not ouly vicious, 
but exceedingly dull and lazy. 

MANNERS AND CUSTOMS. 

1. Dress. The dress of all the eastern na- 
tions appears in early times to have been simple, 
and, in some respects, nearly the same; and 
with the lapse of 2000 years has not changed 
as much as we might at first suppose. The fol- 
lowing account of dress is more applicable to 
the ancient Jews and modern Arabs, than to any 
other people. Still, the inhabitants of Asia Mi- 
nor, where Paul and Barnabas traveled, were in 
part, Jews ; and the customs of many of the rest 
of the people must have been somewhat similar 
to theirs. 

In the progress of these remarks, reference will 
often be made to Scripture, and scripture events 
and moral lessons for the young will occasionally 
be introduced. 

The upper garment usually worn is the hyke. 
It is six yards long, and nearly two wide. They 

7# 



78 FIRST FOREIGN MISSION. 

wear it by day, and sleep in it at night. In the 
engraving, you see it thrown loosely over the 
shoulders of the largest figure. It was quite 
loose and troublesome to the wearer, and he was 
obliged to tuck it up, and fold it round him. 
On this account they had to use a girdle when 
they were actively employed. Thus we read of 
having the " loins girded." This girdle was 
often made of worsted, richly wrought ; and fold- 
ed several times round the body. One end was 
sewed up, so as to make a purse or pocket. Oth- 
er things were often carried tucked into the gir- 
dle. 

Ruth's veil, which held six measures of barley, 
was propably a kind of hyke. The kneading 
troughs of the Israelites, Exod. xii, were also 
bound up in their hykes. The plaid worn by 
the Scotch Highlanders is much the same sort of 
garment. So in Java, and many parts of the 
East, the principal article of dress, still in use, is 
of many colors, like the Scotch plaid, or like 
Joseph's coat. 

A wooden or metal pin was used to fasten the 
folds of this garment together at the shoulder. 
The outer fold served for an apron. 



THE HYKE AND TUNIC. 



79 



Here is a representation of the ancient mode 
of dress. The drawing was made, I believe, 
with very great fidelity. 




The burnoose is a sort of cloak worn over the 
hyke. It has a cape or hood, to cover the head, 
as a shelter from the rain. See the largest figure 
but one in the engraving. 

Under the hyke is worn a close bodied frock, 
or tunic. The coat of our Savior, " woven with- 
out seam," was probably of this sort. 

Persons who are engaged in any active em- 
ployment, usually throw off their burnooses and 
hykes, and remain in their tunics. This is 



80 FIRST FOREIGN MISSION. 

what is meant by laying aside their garments. 
Thus our Savior, laid aside his garments, when 
he washed the disciples' feet. When Saul, 
David, Peter and others, are spoken of as naked, 
it only means that they had thrown off their 
burnooses and hykes, and had on nothing but 
their tunics. 

Some of these garments were very fine and 
handsome. These, as they could be sold readi- 
ly to almost any person, constituted an impor- 
tant part of their riches. Some of the wealthy 
had 500 or 1000 " changes" of raiment. One 
wealthy Roman gentleman is said to have had 
5000. — It was the hykes, probably, which were 
spread in the road, when our Savior rode in tri- 
umph into Jerusalem. 

In addition to the hyke and the tunic, both 
the men and women of the East wear a kind of 
loose trowsers. 

The law of Moses required the Israelites to 
put a fringe or tassel, to each of the corners of 
their upper garments, that when they saw them, 
" they might remember all the commandments 
of the Lord, to do them." In later times they 
wrote passages from the law, upon strips of 
parchment, called phylacteries, and fastened 



WEARING VEILS. 



81 



them on the borders of their garments, or round 
their wrists or foreheads, as we have already seen. 
Hypocrites also wore them, in order to appear 
more holy than their neighbors. 

1 have already mentioned the veil of Ruth ; 
but the Jewish and Grecian women in ancient 
times, when they went abroad, generally wore 
veils. These were not loose, like veils now worn, 
but were wrapped closely round the face. 




The custom of covering the face when they 
appear in public, is still common among the 
women of many of the eastern countries. — Paul, 



82 FIRST FOREIGN MISSION. 

in writing to the early Christians at Corinth, a 
city in Greece, blames females for appearing in 
church with their heads uncovered ; and it is 
singular that to this day, it is customary for wo- 
men, while in church, and in many other pub- 
lic places, to wear their bonnets. 

The men, except a few fops or dandies, always 
wore their hair short. Absalom appears to have 
been vain of his beauty, and we read of his long 
hair. But the very thing which he was so proud 
of, became the instrument of his destruction ; 
for after his defeat in the rebellion against his fa- 
ther, and when he was riding away as fast as he 
could, his hair caught in the boughs of a tree, 
where he hung till his enemies overtook him 
and slew him. Plucking or pulling out the 
hair, though practised among some nations, was 
thought disgraceful by the Jews. 

Numerous ornaments were worn, especially 
by females; such as rings, bracelets, chains, 
ear-rings, &c. The rings and chains were gen- 
erally given as marks of esteem and honor. 
Some of them were called signets. They were 
engraved with characters or devices, like our 
seals ; and when kings or great men signed a 
decree, or written paper, they did so by inking 



THE HAIR AND BEARD. 83 

the signet, and stamping it on the paper. The 
ring which Pharaoh gave Joseph, was of this 
sort. 

The ancient women took a great deal of pains 
to plait and adorn their hair. This we find from 
the writings of Isaiah, Peter and Paul. These 
good men spoke against it, as highly improper 
for those who profess to love God. The orna- 
ment which God approves, say they, is the orna- 
ment of a '■' meek and quiet spirit," which, in his 
sight, is of " great price." The Jews generally 
wore their beards very long ; and they were com- 
manded in Leviticus not to cut them in a fanci- 
ful or ridiculous manner. This shows why the 
affront which Hanun offered to David's ambas- 
sadors, was considered so great. Cutting off 
the beard, or wearing it in a rough or disordered 
manner, was among the Jews, a mark of sorrow. 
Even at the present day, the eastern nations 
wear their beards long. They consider it a 
mark of folly in Europeans and Americans to 
have them short ; although the Jews in the Uni- 
ted States generally cut their beards. When 
Martyn, the Missionary, was in Persia, he al- 
lowed his beard to grow ; and soon found that 
the natives respected him the more on account 



84 FIRST FOREIGN MISSION. 

of it. There is a saying among the people of 
the East, that " a man with a long beard will 
never act dishonestly," although the saying often 
proves untrue. 

Our Savior tells us, that all evil thoughts and 
bad actions proceed from the heart. Unless the 
heart or disposition is good, therefore, there is 
nothing in dress or fashion which will have 
much influence in making a bad man behave 
well. And a youth who is wicked in a ragged 
coat, would be so in a new one. 

People in ancient days did not wear stock- 
ings as we do ; but only sandals. A sandal 
is like the sole of a shoe, tied on the foot with 
tape, or a band of some kind. This was pulled 
off on entering a holy place, or on coming into 
the presence of a king or any other great per- 
son. The Mohammedans, at the present time, 
pull off their sandals when they enter their 
mosques or places of worship, or when they 
come into a room where a great man is sitting. 

As this was the only covering of the feet, it 
may easily be supposed that they would feel very 
uncomfortable from mud and dust, after walking 
any distance. Accordingly it was always ex- 
pected, when a guest arrived, that the servants 



FOOD AT THE EAST. 85 

should take off his sandals, and wash his feet. 
It was usually done by the lowest servants, and 
was a mark of great humility on the part of the 
master of a family, if he did it himself; as well 
as a great honor to the person whose feet he 
washed. 

2. Food. Their food was plain and simple. 
Bread, made of wheat, was much used; but they 
had also rice, milk, and honey, and many garden 
vegetables and fruits. The oil expressed from 
olives, called sweet oil, was, I believe, in common 
use for food. Sometimes fish and flesh were eat- 
en ; but the poor often found it difficult to pro- 
cure the latter. — Honey was abundant. 

The land of Canaan was said to be a land 
flowing with milk and honey. The Jews did 
not eat much animal food, either flesh or fish, 
except at their solemn feasts and sacrifices. 
The eastern nations, generally, appear to have 
used meat much more sparingly than we do. 
When occasionally they used it, they regarded 
it as a great dainty. They sometimes ate lo- 
custs, as the Arabs now do. John the Bap- 
tist lived at one time, upon locusts and wild 
honey. 



86 FIRST FOREIGN MISSION. 

The most common and useful article of food 
among them was bread. This is very often 
mentioned in the Bible. Parched corn was 
grain (wheat, barley, &c. for they had no In- 
dian corn) not quite ripe, roasted or dried in the 
ear, and eaten without having any thing else 
done to it. How different from what we call 
parched corn ! 

Baking. The finest flour was made into 
cakes, and baked upon the hearth. The coarse 
flour was made into loaves. Sometimes the 
cakes were baked upon the coals ; being laid 
upon the hot embers, or upon a flat plate of 
iron, or a grate of iron over the fire. In the 
north of England and Scotland, even now, cakes 
are sometimes baked upon a plate of iron. 
This plate is called a girdle and the cakes, gir- 
dle-cakes. But in other parts of the Bible we 
read that they had ovens. These were vessels, 
about three feet high, and without bottoms. 
They were smeared inside and outside with clay, 
and placed upon a frame, or support. They 
were heated by having fuel put into them. The 
bread was usually made into small flat cakes, 
and when the oven was sufficiently heated, they 



VARIOUS KINDS OF OVENS. 



87 



were plastered on to the inside of it, and the 
top covered. 




As the oven itself was hot, and as they did 
not remove the fire, they were baked very 
quickly. 

They had also sand ovens, and earth ovens. 
The first were nothing more than the sand. 
Upon these a fire was built, and when the fire 
was removed, they laid the dough, in flat cakes, 
upon the heated sand. The cakes made by 
Sarah and the widow of Zareptha, were thus 



88 FIRST FOREIGN MISSION. 

baked. The earth ovens consisted of a round 
hole in the earth, into which stones were put, and 
a fire kindled on them. When the stones had 
become quite hot the fire was removed, and the 
dough spread in thin flakes upon the heated stone, 
and turned as often as was necessary. Prob- 
ably the cake " baken on the coals" for Elijah, 
was of this kind. The Arabs, at the present 
day, bake or roast locusts nearly in the same 
way , only they pour them in great quantities into 
this hole in the earth. 

The people of the East ground their wheat 
(or corn as they called it) in hand mills. Here 
is an engraving of one of them. 




They were usually worked by two women, 
who sat, one on each side, and took hold of the 
upright piece, which you see on the right hand 
side of the engraving, and turned the upper 



ANCIENT GRINDING. 



stone round upon the other, 
several places in the Bible. 



89 

This explains 




Here are the two stones taken apart, to show 
you more plainly how they look. You see the 
hopper to the upper piece. Into this hopper, the 
grain was slowly poured, while others turned 
the mill. The grinding went on very slowly ; 
so that people had to grind for use almost every 
day. Mills like these, until very lately, were in 
use in the highlands of Scotland. Even in 
some of the Southern United States, the slaves 
grind corn in hand mills. Among the Jews, 
the sound of a mill at a house, early in the morn- 
ing, and the women singing as they work, was 
considered as a sign that the people were well 
and active. When this was not heard, they 
feared they were sick. 

As millstones were so necessary every day, 
the Israelites were forbidden to take either " the 
8* 



90 



FIRST FOREIGN MISSION. 



nether or the upper millstone to pledge," that is, 
for debt; for that would be like starving the 
family. This shows how much use the Jews 
made of bread. 

3. Drink. Their usual drink was water, 
which they procured from wells and fountains. 
They also used the fermented, or worked juice, 
of grapes, dates, &c. 

The Jews of old, like the modern Arabs, and 
many nations both ancient and modern, kept 
their water, wine, milk, and other liquors in bot- 
tles, or rather bags, made of skins ; which, when 
old, could be patched and mended. Such were 
the bottles of the Gibeonites. New wine, as you 




ANCIENT BOTTLES. 91 

know, like new beer or cider, ferments ; and if 
the vessel or cask is closed tightly, and is not 
very strong, will burst it. So if the new wine 
of the Jews, was put into a leathern bottle, who 
does not see that an old worn skin would be 
much more likely to burst, than one which was 
new and strong. But old wine which had done 
fermenting or working, might, with more safety, 
be put into old bottles. 

Sometimes these bottles are made of the en- 
tire skin of the kid or other animal from which 
it was taken. Thus, in the engraving, you see 
the legs of the animal, both on the bottle which 
the lady holds in her hand, and on that lying by 
her side. More commonly, however, these bot- 
tles were square bags, made of pieces of leather 
so large that they would hold several gallons. 

David, in one of the Psalms, when describing 
himself as wasted with affliction and trouble, 
compares himself to a bottle in the smoke. A 
leathern bottle, if hung in the smoke for a length 
of time, would become shrivelled and dried up. 

Some tribes of Indians, in the northern parts 
of South America, make bottles of Indian rub- 
ber, which look very much like leather. They 
are used not only as bottles, but as drinking ves- 



92 FIRST FOREIGN MISSION. 

sels; and they suck the liquid out of them. In 
some places it is customary, at feasts, to present 
each guest, with one of these bottles filled with 
water. How much more rational is this prac- 
tice, than that of furnishing them with spirits, 
wine, and other bad drinks ! 

4. Books and Reading. When Paul and 
Barnabas were travelers, they had no printed 
books, nor any newspapers to read ; for the curi- 
ous art of printing had not then been discovered. 
Now, a traveler can scarcely go into a public 
house or private dwelling in the land, without 
finding both books and newspapers. No one 
need complain, then, that time hangs heavily 
either at home or abroad, when there are so 
many books and newspapers in circulation. We 
may always, or almost always, find something to 
entertain us, or at least to keep us from idle- 
ness. 

So might Paul and Barnabas have done ; and 
they undoubtedly did so. They had business 
enough to do to preach the gospel. But if they 
wished to read, at any time, they could usually 
procure books enough, though they were differ- 
ent from ours. Or if they had nothing else to 
do, they could sit down and think. Paul and 



BOOKS AND PAPERS. 93 

Barnabas were thinking men. Such men are 
never at a loss to know what to do. If they are 
even shut up in prison, they can think ; — think 
what they are ; by whom they were created ; for 
what purpose they were made, and where they 
are going. Among other things they can think 
of the great and glorious Being to whom they 
are going ; and " pray and sing praises" to 
Him. 

" But if they had books in those days, what 
sort of books were they V you will say. They 
were written books. They had no other. " But 
had they paper ?" No ; not like ours. They 
wrote on a great variety of substances ; such as 
brick, wood, stone and ivory, and plates of lead 
or copper. Some of these, they coated over 
with wax, and wrote on the wax with the point 
of an iron pen. In later times they wrote on 
leaves of the palm tree, and the thin bark of 
lime, ash, maple and elm trees. These leaves 
or pieces of bark, were glued or fastened togeth- 
er. These they rolled up, and the rolls were 
called books. But one of the most common 
substances used for the purposes of writing, 
was the leaves of the papyrus, a sort of reed ; 
from which the word paper was taken. They 



94 FIRST FOREIGN MISSION. 

also wrote on parchment, or the skins of ani- 
mals dried and polished. Probably the books of 
the Old Testament, which were the " Scrip- 
tures," out of which the Jews read, in the days of 
Barnabas and Paul, were chiefly of parchment. 
They wrote across the book, from the right 
hand to the left, in the contrary way from what 
we do, and just as many eastern nations do at 
the present time. To open a book was to unroll 
it with the left hand, as you see at page 54. 

MODE OF TRAVELING, CITIES, ROADS, &C. 

In speaking of the island of Cyprus, much 
doubt was expressed in regard to the actual con- 
dition of that country with respect to roads, 
and means of conveyance ; especially the former. 
But I am able to speak with more confidence 
of the roads, &c. of Asia Minor. 

In the time of Paul and Barnabas the country 
of Asia Minor was rich, flourishing and very 
populous. Respectable historians say that it 
contained no less than 500 populous cities. 
This alone may give us some idea of the actual 
condition of this then important part of the Ro- 
man empire ; especially if we recollect that these 
cities were embraced in a section of country not 



CITIES OF ASIA MINOR. 95 

larger, probably, than the contiguous states of 
New York, Pennsylvania, and Virginia. The 
most sanguine among us will hardly anticipate 
a period when these three states will contain 
500 populous cities, besides a great number of 
smaller towns and villages.* 

These cities of Asia were not only populous ; 
they were enriched with all the gifts of nature, 
and adorned with all the refinements, at that 
time within the reach of human art. Many of 
them were also exceedingly wealthy. Among 
those which were remarkable for their great 
wealth, we find the names of Smyrna, Ephesus, 
Miletus, Laodicea, and Pergamos.f 

* If Josephus can be relied on, there were not wanting ex- 
ample, of the kind in the ancient world. The province of 
Galilee, in Syria, not larger than the little state of Rhode 
Island, is said to have contained more than 200 cities and vil- 
lages, the least of which contained 15,000 inhabitants. Spain 
according to Pliny, contained 300 cities of greater or less 
size ; Africa, by which is meant a small territory only, around 
Carthage, 300; and Gaul (France) 1200. — Syria in general, 
was also populous. Under the militai-y government of the 
Mamelukes, it was supposed to contain 60,000 villages. 
These last could not all, however, have been as large as Jose- 
phus says those of Galilee were; for at that rate, Syria alone 
would have contained a greater population than is now assign- 
ed to the whole world. — The mistake probably consists in Jo- 
sephus' assigning too large a population to the land of Galilee. 

f This subject may be further illustrated by an anecdote 
from Tacitus. Eleven cities of Asia Minor, including, among 
others, those above mentioned, once disputed the honor of ded- 



96 FIRST FOREIGN MISSION. 

All the cities of Asia Minor were connected 
with each other, and with the Roman capital 
by splendid public highways. These, issuing 
from the Forum of Rome, traversed Italy, ex- 
tended through the provinces, and terminated 
only at the boundaries of the empire. One which 
passed from Rome through Asia Minor and Sy- 
ria to Jerusalem, was 2068 miles in length. 

These roads were divided by mile stones, and 
ran in a direct line from one city to another, with 
very little regard to the obstacles either of na- 
ture or private property. Mountains were cut 
through, bold arches thrown over the broadest 
and most rapid streams, and beautiful fields and 
vineyards severed or destroyed. By whom these 
roads were erected, I have not been able to as- 
certain ; probably by the Roman soldiers, in 
time of peace. 

The middle part of the road was raised into a 
kind of terrace, which completely overlooked the 

icating a temple to the Emperor, Tiberias. On examining 
their respective claims, the Roman senate immediately reject- 
ed four of them, as unequal to the burden ; among which was 
Laodicea. Yet this city was wealthy. It derived a large 
revenue from its flocks of sheep, celebrated for the fineness of 
their wool. It appears that only a short time before the con- 
test, a generous citizen had added no less than £400,000 to 
the usual amount of this revenue, by a legacy. If this city 
was poor, what shall we say of the others 1 



EASTERN ROADS. 97 

adjacent country. It consisted of several strata 
of sand, gravel and cement, and was paved with 
large stones.* Their construction was, in this 
way, so firm, that after the lapse of so many cen- 
turies, portions of them still remain. 

Houses were erected on those roads, at the 
distance of only five or six miles. The advan- 
tages of receiving the earliest intelligence from 
every part of the empire, led the emperors, to 
establish regular posts. Each house along the 
roads was kept constantly provided with 40 hor- 
ses ; and with the help of these, as relays, it 
was easy to convey intelligence 100 miles a 
day.f The use of these posts was almost ex- 
clusively for the public service, and was so rarely 
allowed to a private citizen, for his own business 
convenience,' that Pliny, though a favorite, and 
a minister, was obliged to make an apology for 
granting post horses to a member of his family, 
on the most urgent business. 

* In some places, near Rome, the roads were paved with 
granite. 

t In the time of Theodosius, Caesarius, a magistrate of high 
rank, ' went post' from Antioch, in Syria, to Constantinople ; 
and, in one instance, traveled the whole distance, 665 miles, 
in five and a half days, including the intervening nights. This 
would be a tolerably quick journey by land, even at the pres- 
ent day. 

9 



98 FIRST FOREIGN MISSION. 

The roads in the provinces of Asia in which 
Paul and Barnabas traveled, at least between 
the various cities mentioned, were of the de- 
scription just given. Of the general appearance 
of the country, as they walked along these ele- 
vated ridges, we can, at the present time, form 
but a very imperfect conception. The Turks, 
it is well known, have nearly spoiled this once 
populous, fertile and happy country. It was 
once, doubtless, highly cultivated ; the people 
probably mostly farmers ; though there were 
many shepherds, and some few mechanics. — 

May we not hope that the day is rapidly draw- 
ing nigh, when this fair portion of the globe 
will be rescued from semi-barbarians, and the 
unhappy effects of a false religion, and be 
brought under the enlightening and refining, . 
and exalting influences of Christianity ? 



CHAPTER XIV. 

Paul and Barnabas arrive at Iconium. Their success in 
preaching the gospel there. Intriguing conduct of the Jews. 
The missionaries perform miracles. Dissension in the city. 
The opposing party about to stone Paul and Barnabas. . 
They flee to Derbe and Lystra. 

We have now finished our account of Asia 
Minor, — its condition, — and the manners, and 
customs of the people of the East; and are pre- 
pared to follow Paul and Barnabas again, on 
their journey. 

It has already been stated that the envious and 
mischievous Jews had driven them away from 
Antioch. They went next to Iconium, which 
was about 80 miles to the south eastward of An- 
tioch. One might think they would have fled 
to a much more distant part of the country ; 
but it should be remembered that Iconium was 
in another province ; and probably they doubted 
whether the Jews of Pisidia would pursue them 
further than the borders of their own province. 



100 FIRST FOREIGN MISSION. 

How well founded this expectation was, we shall 
see in the progress of their journey. 

Iconium was the capital of the province of 
Lycaonia, and evidently a place of considerable 
size. It was situated near a small lake, and 
is now called Konieh. It is famous for having 
been the theatre of a battle, in a late war between 
the Egyptians and Turks. Here, as well as at 
Antioch, they found many Jews. Here, too, 
they entered into the synagogue, and addressed 
the people with so much power that many of 
them, Greeks as well as Jews, became converts. 

For a time all seemed to go on prosperously. 
But at length the unconverted portion of the 
Jews began to make them trouble ; not by do- 
ing anything openly against them, but by setting 
the Gentiles at work. This mode of warfare 
is quite too often resorted to, in the world. 
Some persons will induce others to do things, 
which they would scorn to do themselves. Per- 
haps they hope, in this way, to get rid of a 
part of the guilt which would otherwise fall upon 
them. How much are they mistaken ! He who 
employs another to perform a deed which he is 
ashamed to perform himself, — is he not answer- 
able for all the consequences; and ought he not 
to be punishable for all the guilt? 



MIRACLES WROUGHT. 101 

But though the Jews contrived to prejudice 
the Gentiles against Paul and Barnabas, they 
did not, at once, succeed in getting them out of 
the city. They remained there a long time, and 
preached the gospel of Christ with great bold- 
ness and power. 

To convince the people of that region, more 
fully, that they were sent by the authority of 
God, they wrought many signs and wonders in 
Iconium. This had the effect to convince some, 
^and to give to opposers an opportunity of becom- 
ing still more hardened, and headstrong in their 
opposition. 

It is strange that miracles have such an effect 
on mankind, but so it is ; and so it has been in 
all ages of the world. Never was there a people 
more likely to be convinced by miracles, accord- 
ing to the best human judgment, than the Jews 
to whom the Savior preached , especially the 
great men among the Pharisees. But did mira- 
cles ever convince them 1 Seldom ; nor would 
they have done so, had they been repeated be- 
fore them to this day, so long as they kept hard- 
ening their hearts against them. When men 
cease to harden themselves against evidence of 
the truth, — when their hearts become softened 
9* 



102 FIRST FOREIGN MISSION. 

by divine grace, — then miracles will have their 
full weight on their minds. 

Many of us have undoubtedly thought a thou- 
sand times, that if we were to see a miracle, we 
could not help believing. Perhaps we might 
believe merely ; but unless we are made of differ- 
ent materials, in body and mind, from those who 
have gone before us, it is, to say the least, quite 
doubtful whether any practical effects would be 
produced on our lives. 

The preaching and miraculous works of Bar- 
nabas and Paul, at Iconium, produced a division 
among the people. Part of the city was on the 
side of the missionaries, and part took the side 
of the mischief-making Jews. 

The Savior of the world had, long before, told 
his hearers that he came not to send peace on 
the earth, but a sword. Now although he is the 
prince of Peace, and his gospel the gospel of 
peace, yet it is no less true that in setting it up 
in the world, it sometimes seems to produce 
divisions in families, and neighborhoods, and na- 
tions. It sets " the mother against the daughter 
and the daughter against her mother," and ren- 
ders " a man's foes, they of his own household." 

The case is this. Most persons who join a 



PERSECUTION BEGUN. 103 

mew religion, however well proved to be true, 
are, for sometime, deemed fanatics ; and it is 
not uncommon for them to be thought derang- 
ed or mad. When things do not go so far as 
this, however, they often go the length of mak- 
ing the unbelieving members of the family at 
variance with the believing, — at least for a time. 
JBut this " sword," often works its way, for it is 
sfhe sword of the spirit. It cuts away all the 
opposition and bad feelings in the hearts of op- 
posers, till they come, at length to submit to its 
claims on them. And then follows a peace which 
is a peace indeed ; — a peace which " the world 
can neither give nor take away." If there is joy 
in Heaven, — and we are assured there is, — over 
one sinner that repents ; how much greater the 
joy when some three or four, or half a dozen 
members of a family, who had set their stout 
hearts against the gospel "and some poor brother 
or sister that had embraced it, suddenly become 
reconciled to each other and to God ; and go 
on their way heavenward, rejoicing together. 

But the inhabitants of Iconium not only took 
sides with their tongues, but with their hands. 
The party that set themselves against Barnabas 
and Paul was numerous and strong. It consist- 



104 FIRST FOREIGN MISSION. 

ed of a large portion of the Jews, with some of 
their rulers, and a number of the unbelieving por- 
tion of the Gentiles. They endeavored to prove 
that Paul had blasphemed against their law : in 
hopes that they should thus get him stoned to 
death. It was just now said that they had begun 
to oppose the missionaries not only with tongues, 
but with their hands. They did not, it is true, 
go so far as to make an attack, but they were 
already threatening to assault and stone them, 
when by some means they heard of it and fled. 
They went, it is supposed, to Lystra; and 
without making any considerable stay there, at 
first, they repaired to Derbe ; but from what fol- 
lowed, it appears that they soon came back to 
Lystra. Of the interesting events which hap- 
pened at the latter place, I shall speak at length 
in the next chapter. 



CHAPTER XV. 

The missionaries at Lystra and Derbe. Paul performs a mir- 
acle at Lystra. The inhabitants take him and Barnabas, to 
be gods ; and are about to offer sacrifices to them. Why 
Paul and Barnabas did not permit it. 

Lystra and Derbe were both cities of Lyca- 
onia. Lystra was about 40 miles southeast of 
Iconium, and Derbe 30 or 40 miles eastward of 
Lystra.* In these two cities, and the places 
round about them, Paul and Barnabas preached 
for some time after they fled from Iconium ; but 
nothing is said about the converts they made, 
or whether they made any. 

While they were preaching at Lystra one day, 
there was a man among the hearers who never 
had walked a step in his life.f Paul discovered 

* From Lystra to Tarsus, in Cilicia, was about 130 miles. 
Tarsus was 149 miles from Antioch in Syria. 

t " The Life and Travels of St. Paul," a work to which 
I have already adverted, says that the name of the young 
man who was healed at Lystra was Eneas. Robinson's Cal- 
met's Dictionary says the same thing, and probably the writer 



106 FIRST FOREIGN MISSION. 

the lame man among the crowd, and perceived, 
at once by his appearance his great anxiety to 
be healed, and that he had faith to believe that 
he was able to heal him. So he called out to 
him loudly and bid him to stand upright. The 
strength of his feet came in an instant and he 
rose up, and sprang about and walked. 

It is probably impossible for those who have 
always had the use of their feet to form any 
correct opinion of the state of this young man's 
mind at this moment. He had never borne his 
whole weight on his feet before since he was 
born. And to be thus suddenly made sound in 
his limbs like other men, must have been, one ; 
would think, overpowering to his feelings. No 
wonder he " leaped" about. 

The effect of this miracle on the minds of 
the people of Lystra was very different from that 
which was produced by the "signs and won- 
ders" at Iconium ; for the people of Lystra had 

took it from Calmet. Now it happens that the name of the 
young man at Lystra, is not given in the Bible. A young man 
by the name of Eneas, is indeed mentioned in the Bible as hav- 
ing been healed of a malady of long standing; but the trans- 
action took place at Lydda, several years before. Lydda was 
four or five leagues east from Joppa, on the road from Jerusa- 
lem to Cesarea. Besides, Eneas was not healed by Paul, but 
by Peter. 



THE HEATHEN GODS. 107 

not yet taken up against the missionaries. Had 
they done this, and begun to harden their hearts 
and indulge bad feelings before the miracle 
was wrought, it would probable have increased 
their opposition. 

On the contrary, they extolled Paul and Bar- 
nabas to the skies, and called them gods ; saying : 
" The gods are come down to us in the likeness 
of men." They named Barnabas Jupiter, and 
Paul, Mercurius or Mercury. 

We have already seen that though there were 
many Jews in these cities of Asia Minor, there 
were also many idolaters and heathen. Among 
some of the heathen nations, Jupiter is consid- 
ered the chief god ; and is supposed to be ad- 
vanced in years. Mercury is said to be his son, 
and an eloquent speaker. As Barnabas was now 
somewhat advanced in years, and grave and 
dignified in his appearance, and Paul compar- 
atively young, and the most highly gifted as a 
speaker, they gave the name of Jupiter to him 
who seemed like the father, and Mercury to the 
son. 

If there are any doubts in our mind whether 
they really believed them to be gods, those doubts 
will probably be removed by what followed. The 



108 FIRST FOREIGN MISSION, 

" priest of Jupiter" collected together oxen and 
other materials, and prepared to make a sacrifice 
to them, just as the people were accustomed to 
do to their gods. 

But do you think Paul and Barnabas allowed 
them to do so? Why not? Alexander the 
great was called a god by some of the people 
among whom he went, and he was mightily- 
pleased with it. Probably it increased his power 
and influence over mankind, and did much to 
promote the rapidity of his conquests. 

Now might not Paul and Barnabas have rea- 
soned in the same manner ? " These are an 
ignorant set of men," they might have said, 
" and our great object is to convert them to 
Christianity. Now in order to do this we must 
secure their confidence. We must, some how 
or other, obtain an influence over their minds. 
But their ignorance is such that it seems next 
to impossible to lead them to the truth by reas- 
oning with them. The fact is, they will not 
reason. 

" But if they take us to be gods, and we do 
not undeceive them, we shall have unbounded 
power over their minds, and can do pretty much 
as we please with them. They cannot surely 



WORLDLY REASONING. 109 

resist the gods, especially when they reside among 
them. What we tell them to do, they will do. 
What we tell them not to do, they will refrain 
from doing. What we say to them, they will 
believe, whether they are convinced of its truth 
or not. As our object, if we know our own 
hearts, is to do them good and teach them the 
truth, and as we have no other earthly object but 
this, why may we not take the advantages which 
this circumstance affords us, of promoting the 
cause of our holy religion ? 

" Who can tell but that Providence designed 
this very event as a means of enabling us to 
spread his religion throughout all this region ? 
And if so, would it not even be slighting God 
for us to neglect taking advantage of it ? 

" We have always held that it was right and 
proper to become all things to all men, if by 
any means this might enable us to save their 
souls. And when they set us up as gods, is it 
not perfectly fit, that we should take the attitude 
of gods ; especially when in addition to all this, 
there is so strong a probability that such a 
course, on our part, might be the very best means 
of converting them 1" 

Why, I ask again, might not Paul and Barna- 
10 



110 FIRST FOREIGN MISSION. 

bas have thus reasoned with themselves ? There 
is no doubt that wicked men — men who are de- 
luded, or fanatical, or hypocritical — are often 
left to reason in this way : and it is very proba- 
ble that some whom the world call good men 
reason in a similar manner, and act on similar 
principles. 

The simple answer to the question why Paul 
and Barnabas might not have done so — and the 
only answer, is, they had no right to do evil, that 
good might come out of it. We cannot always, 
nor indeed often, see the end from the beginning. 
We must do what we know to be right at the 
present time, and trust to God for results. What 
is doubtful, we must let alone. There is enough 
for us to do in the world, about which we have 
no doubts at all. 

If Paul and Barnabas had suffered the people 
to go on and sacrifice oxen to them decked with 
garlands of flowers, or crown their own temples 
with them, and treat them as they did their gods, 
and said nothing about it, this would have been 
the same thing as admitting that they were what 
the Lystrans supposed them to be. This would 
have been giving currency to what they knew 
to be falsehood. And is it not just as wrong 



CHRISTIAN ETHICS. HI 

to encourage a falsehood by our silence, — I 
mean when we have power to speak, — as to as- 
sert a falsehood in the plainest words ? Why 
not, if the consequences are the same 1 

Paul and Barnabas understood this matter at 
least as well as we. They knew their duty, 
and they acted according to their knowledge. 
They did not adopt a course for which they 
foresaw their consciences would afterwards con- 
demn them. What they did, however, we shall 
see in the next chapter. 



CHAPTER XVI. 

Of the means which Paul and Barnabas took to prevent the 
people from worshiping them. Their final success. 

Among the ancients, it was customary as a 
sign of grief, or regret, to rend their garments. 
When Paul and Barnabas discovered what the 
people of Lystra were about to do, they tore 
their clothes, and ran into the crowd, and by 
reasoning with them endeavored to dissuade 
them from their purpose. 

We are men, like yourselves, said they ; we 
are no gods; we have passions like you, and 
other men. Our object in coming among you 
_ was to teach you about the true God, whose mes- 
sengers we are, and to beseech you to turn away 
from the worship of idols, and from lusting after 
vanities, and worship the living God, who made 
heaven, and the earth, and the sea, and all the 
things which are in them. 

In former times, they continued, this great 



PAUL'S REASONING. 113 

Being permitted the nations of the earth, gen- 
erally, to take their own course, and " walk in 
their own ways." If they chose to obey his 
commands, very well; they received the "rec- 
ompense of reward ;" if not, they stood exposed 
to his punishments. Some of them obeyed the 
law which he had " written in their hearts," but 
the greater part were disobedient, and gave them- 
selves up to work all kinds of iniquity " with 
greediness;" being " filled with their own de- 
vices." 

Still, though they had but little light from 
heaven to guide their progress, God did not leave 
them wholly without evidence of his existence ; 
for he " gave them rain from heaven and fruit- 
ful seasons, filling their hearts with food and 
gladness." 

In this way did our two missionaries labor for 
sometime to convince the idolatrous multitude of 
the folly of all worship but such as was directed 
to the true God. It was with the utmost diffi- 
culty, however, that they succeeded in prventing 
them from executing their intended purpose. 
Nor is it quite certain that they would have 
succeeded at all, had it not been for the arrival 
in the city of a company of men whose presence 
10* 



1 14 FIRST FOREIGN MISION. 

gave quite a new turn to things. Who these men 
were, and what their errand at Lystra was, I am 
next to tell you. 



CHAPTER XVII. 

Reflections on the human character. The Jews from Antioch 
and Iconium persuade the people of Lystra that Paul and 
Barnabas are mischief-makers. They stone Paul, and drag 
him out of the city. He revives, returns to the city; and 
the next day, goes to Derbe. 

How suddenly do people sometimes change 
their feelings, and even their opinions, with a 
change of circumstances ! How little can we 
rely on popular favor ! One day, the public sen- 
timent may be so much in our favor that people 
think they cannot do enough for us. They are 
not satisfied with manifesting their approbation 
in ordinary ways ; they would gladly crown our 
temples with garlands, and sacrifice sheep or 
oxen to us, as gods. The next day, perhaps, they 
are ready to hiss us, if not to stone us ! 

How unsafe is it, then, to trust alone in man ; 
so difficult to please, and so unstable in his friend- 
ship ! Is it not better to please ourselves ; I 
mean satisfy our own consciences ? 



116 FIRST FOREIGN MISSION. 

There is one thing more to be done, however. 
We are, indeed, to do nothing against our con- 
sciences. But this is not all. We are to do 
many things which our consciences might nev- 
er have told us ought to be done, had not the 
Son of God entered the world, and took upon 
himself our nature, and lived, and suffered, and 
bled, and ascended, for our sakes. 

What, therefore, the Savior came into the 
world to teach us to do, we ought to perform, 
whether conscience is silent about it or not. 
We may also be desirous of pleasing mankind at 
the same time. But when, for the sake of that, 
we do what our consciences tell us ought not to 
be done, or leave undone what God in his holy 
word tells us we ought to do, we sin against him 
with a high hand. 

The people of Lystra, as we have just seen, 
were determined to worship Paul and Barnabas 
as gods ; and it was hinted at the close of the 
last chapter that in spite of the pains they took 
to dissuade them from their idolatrous purpose, 
it was by no means certain they would not have 
effected it, had not the arrival of certain persons 
in the city changed, suddenly, the state of the 
public sentiment. 



PAUL STONED. 117 

The envious and disaffected Jews of Antioch 
and Iconium had now come, and had made 
such statements about Paul and Barnabas that 
they had turned the minds of the people as 
much against them, as they were, but the day 
before, in their favor. It is probable they rep- 
resented them as two very crafty but wicked 
men, whose object in coming among them, not- 
withstanding their pretences to piety and a be- 
nevolent desire to save their souls, was nothing 
less than to destroy the Jewish religion, and 
overturn every thing that they had been accus- 
tomed to believe sacred. It was doubtless under 
the influence of statements like these, that they 
forgot the miracles which had been wrought, 
and the mild demeanor and unblamable lives of 
those who wrought them ; for a scene now fol- 
lowed which they would not otherwise have per- 
mitted within the walls of their city. The Jews 
and idolaters from Antioch and Iconium rose 
upon the missionaries, and stoned Paul, till 
they supposed he was dead, and then drew him 
out of the city. 

But Paul was yet alive. The work which 
God had appointed him to do, was not yet fin- 
ished. Till our Lord's will and work concern- 



118 FIRST FOREIGN MISSION. 

ing us, is completed, he can never fail of devising 
means for preserving our lives. As Barnabas 
and the rest of the people who were friendly to 
Paul, stood round about his bruised, and as they 
doubtless thought, lifeless body, he came to him- 
self, and got back to the city ; and the next day, 
was well enough to leave the place. Whether 
he actually died, and God, by his mighty power, 
restored him to life again, or whether he was only 
stunned, and the vital spark remained in him, 
we are not expressly told. — In speaking after- 
wards on this subject, while recounting the 
dangers he had passed through, he only said he 
was ''stoned." But he was a modest man, and 
in no wise disposed to say much about himself. 
Besides, it is not certain he ever knew exactly 
how the fact was. One thing we know, at any . 
rate ; he was senseless, and appeared to the by- 
standers to be dead. 

Why was not Barnabas also stoned? Why 
not the young Lystrans too, who took his 
part? Why, indeed, should all their resent- 
ment fall upon Paul ? Probably for various rea- 
sons. Barnabas was an old man, and even 
savages have some respect for the aged. But 
another stronger reason probably is, that as 



ERRONEOUS or I MOWS, H9 

Paul was the principal speaker, they hated him 
most. We do not even know that Barnabas said 
much, publicly. Few of his discourses are re- 
corded ; and none separately from Paul's. 

It is generally supposed that the people of Lys- 
tra joined the mob in stoning Paul ; but I do 
not know why we have been accustomed to think 
so. That they were present ; and consented to 
what was going on, there can be no doubt. 
There is also but little doubt that they were glad 
to have the murderers proceed with their work. 
If this did not render them as guilty as the mob 
themselves, it certainly could not leave them in- 
nocent. They were, at the best, guilty enough. 

It has been sometimes observed that the 
apostle suffered, here, the same sort of treat- 
ment which Stephen had formerly suffered by 
his consent; and it is intimated that it was a 
species of judgment upon him, for thus consent- 
ing to the death of that eminent saint of God. 
But some people are always so fond of tracing 
resemblances, that they imagine they find them, 
where in reality, none exist. Paul had repented 
of his crime, — and why should he be punished, 
in this way, by God, for crimes he had repented 
of? Besides, Stephen died; but Paul was re- 
stored. 



120 FIRST FOREIGN MISSION. 

A curious question arises here. Why should 
Paul go back into the city again, when he came 
to himself? Could it have been safe? This 
question, I cannot answer. I suppose he knew 
the nature of a mob however ; that they often 
perform a rash act one day, and repent of it the 
next. The wicked Athenians made the wise 
man Socrates drink poison ; but he was scarce- 
ly dead before they mourned for him, most heart- 
ily. But Paul might have been carried into the 
city privately. Or what is more likely still, the 
people of Antioch and lconium, having accom- 
plished their malicious purposes, and as they 
thought, put an end to the life of him they ha- 
ted so much, had probably set off for home 
again, and the friends of the apostle, who lived 
at Lystra, knew it. There is still one more sup- 
position ; which is that Paul might have been 
moved to this bold and apparently dangerous 
course by the Holy Spirit, for reasons to us un- 
known. 

Be this as it may — for there is nothing certain 
on the subject — the missionaries did not stay 
in Lystra longer than that night. The next 
day they left the place, and proceeded to Derbe. 



CHAPTER XVIII. 

They arrive at Derbe, and teach many. The question how 
long they remained there considered. 

Derbe, as has been already stated, lay east- 
ward of Lystra. Of the size of the city, and the 
character of its inhabitants at that period, we 
know very little. All we can learn is from the 
words of the writer of the Acts ; that, at this 
visit, Paul " taught many" 

The bible takes no notice of their preaching, 
during this visit, in any of the cities or villages 
adjoining Derbe. We are only told that the 
gospel was preached " to that city ;" effectually, 
as we may suppose, since we learn that many 
were ' taught ;' or discipled. 

Some writers assure us that in Derbe, and in 
the neighboring region of Phrygia and Galatia, 
the apostle Paul continued to preach the gos- 
pel uninterruptedly, and with great success, for 
a considerable time, There are certainly rea- 
11 



122 FIRST FOREIGN MISSION. 

sons for presuming so ; but I should not like to 
state the fact so positively. It is generally ad- 
mitted that they were absent two or three years ; 
where were they all that time? They met with 
very little peace elsewhere ; but here they do not 
appear to have encountered any opposition, ex- 
cept that kind of opposition which the unrenewed 
heart always manifests, whenever and wherever 
the truth is preached in its purity. 

The fact, too, that Paul and Barnabas went 
back by the way they came, through Lystra, 
Iconium, and Antioch, might very naturally 
lead us to suppose that his return was some time 
after he was stoned. Would he have dared to 
go back immediately, or within a few weeks ? 
On the contrary, by staying and preaching in 
Galatia and Phrygia a year or two, would not 
the wrath of his enemies have time to cool? 
Would they not see, in addition to all this, that 
he was not disposed to pull down or destroy what 
they deemed sacred ; as they had at first imag- 
ined he would ? 

We should remember, that but a small part 
of the actual sayings or doings of either Christ 
or the apostles are recorded. The Holy Spirit, 
it is true, directed the writers to be particular 



THE SCRIPTURES. 123 

on some points; but generally we have little 
more than an outline of what happened. This, 
if we make a good use of it, is doubtless enough 
for our salvation. 



CHAPTER XIX. 

Derbe the end of their journey. They now set out on their 
return. Why they ventured to go through Lystra, Iconium 
and Antioch. Thoughts on the duty of a missionary. — Birth 
place of Timothy. 

Whether our two missionaries remained at 
Derbe a longer or shorter period of time, this 
city seems to have been at the end of their 
journey, for when they left it, they evidently 
took up their line of march homeward.* 

They did not go the nearest way, however ; 
but returned the same way that they came. 
This is not a little surprizing. After such cruel 
treatment as they had received, especially at 

* Should any reader wonder why they did not return by 
land, by way of Tarsus, Paul's native city, which was not 
more than 100 miles from Derbe, the only answer I can give 
is that they wished to revisit the churches they had planted at 
Lystra, Iconium Antioch and other places, and probably felt 
a desire to revisit Perga; and that having arrived at Perga, 
the passage to Antioch, with a fair wind, would be very short. 
They were men who loved to be economical, especially of 
time. 



MISSIONARY CHARACTER. 125 

Lystra, why should they venture to appear there 
again ? 

I have already said that if they were in Derbe 
and its neighborhood a year or two, the preju- 
dices of the Jews might have somewhat abated. 
Still I do not think this expectation, alone, would 
authorize them to take such a course. I con- 
ceive, rather, that they went there from a sense 
of duty to God, and it is not impossible but that 
God revealed it to them as his will that they 
should return that way. 

Without any special revelation from God, 
however, the Christian missionary, — the true 
disciple of Christ, I mean, — when he knows his 
duty, is at once prepared to do it. He does not 
stand long to think of consequences. In deter- 
mining what our duty is, we are always bound 
to consider consequences ; but if I have made 
up my mind that God required me to be a mis- 
sionary at trie Sandwich Islands, or among the 
savages of our own or some other country, I 
need not ask, shall I lose my health or life ? 
My business is to go boldly to the work which 
God has assigned me. 

It is undoubtedly true that in acting as a mis- 
sionary, I shall still be obliged to do all I can, 
11* 



126 FIRST FOREIGN MISSION. 

consistently with other duties, to preserve health 
and life. No person is justified in neglecting 
to use such means as he has in his power for 
the preservation of both. Paul and Barnabas do 
not appear to have been at all unmindful of 
either. They did not fight the mobs who as- 
saulted them, it is true, but they got away from 
them, when they could. 

Suppose that in doing what he believes it is 
the will of God he should do, a good man loses 
even his life ; what then ? " He has a family ;" 
you will say. So he has ; but the fatherless, too, 
have a Father ; one who will never leave nor 
forsake them, and the widow has a God; one 
who will not forget her, for he does not forget 
the raven or the sparrow. — " But the young 
missionary has parents, whose hearts may be 
broken by his death in a distant land." Yes ; 
but he has a Father, too, in Heaven ; ONE who 
will, by his Spirit, bind up the broken hearted ; 
ONE who has promised the faithful an inherit- 
ance in his kingdom, better than that of either 
sons or daughters. 

We are not to suppose that Paul and Barna- 
bas left Derbe and Lystra without regret. Be- 
sides a large number converted during their 



BIRTHPLACE OF TIMOTHY. 127 

preaching there, Paul was particularly attached to 
two or three persons, as we find from consulting 
his history afterward. These were an aged lady 
by the name of Lois, her daughter Eunice, who 
though a Jewess had married into a Grecian 
family, and a young son of theirs, by the name of 
Timothy. 

It is not known whether these friends of Paul 
resided in Derbe or Lystra. Calmet, in his 
Dictionary, leaves the matter, as he found it, 
'unsettled, by saying that Timothy was a native 
of Derbe or Lystra; but the author of the "Life 
and Travels of St. Paul" says expressly that he 
was born at Lystra, and that he was converted 
at Paul's first visit to that place. Perhaps there 
are reasons for this opinion which I have not 
been able to discover. I have endeavored, all 
along, not to be " wise above what is written." 
I have not stated as unquestionable facts, things 
which appeared doubtful. 

The language of the sixteenth chapter of the 
'Acts, 5 too, would seem to imply that Timothy 
was a native of Lystra. On the other hand, did 
Paul stay long enough at Lystra to form such a 
strong attachment to the family as appears to 
have existed ? — Clearly not. It is however, a 



128 FIRST FOREIGN MISSION. 

matter of very little importance which way the 
question is decided. One of the cities, at all 
events, had the honor of giving birth to this 
most excellent man, and most humble and de- 
voted Christian. 



CHAPTER XX. 

Paul and Barnabas having commenced their return homeward, 
arrive at Lystra. They proceed to Iconium and Antioch. 
Their stay at the latter place. They go to Perga and preach 
there. Arrive at Attalia. Voyage to Antioch. Are wel- 
comed by the church. 

We do not learn that any of the friends of 
Paul and Barnabas, accompanied them on their 
return through the cities where they had been 
persecuted; though they were by no means 
alone, for God was with them. Indeed we do 
not know with certainty that they knew they 
would return that way. Were it not a great- 
er act of kindness to say nothing about it, than 
to give these " babes in Christ," as new con- 
verts are sometimes called, an occasion of anxi- 
ety and distress on their account? 

They went first to Lystra, then to Iconium, 
and afterward to Antioch. All we know of 
their stay in either of these places is, that they 
met and encouraged, — confirmed, as the scrip- 



130 FIRST FOREIGN MISSION. 

tures call it, — their former converts, and appoint- 
ed elders presbyters, or bishops* in the churches 
which they had before established. The cere- 
mony of ordaining these elders or bishops is 
not described, except by saying that it was ac- 
companied by prayer and fasting ; and that the 
candidates for the ministerial work were spe- 
cially recommended to the care and grace of 
God. 

I have said that we know nothing of their 
stay in these places, but there is reason to be- 
lieve that they staid a considerable time in the 
province of Pisidia, for it will doubtless be re- 
membered that they spent much time in Antioch 
and its neighborhood, on their first visit, and 
made many converts, and as it appears to me 
probable, established many churches. It would, 
therefore, take a considerable time to go round 
and visit them all, and assist them in regulating 
all their concerns. It is not only evident from 
the nature of the case that they did this ; but al- 
so from the language of the Scripture, which is, 
they "passed throughout Pisidia." 



* One writer says; "ordaining bishops, presidents, and 
deacons," but we are not told how he obtained his informa- 
tion. 



RETURNING HOMEWARD. 131 

From Antioch, in Pisidia, they went to Perga. 
Here they appear to have staid and preached for 
some time. It will be recollected they did not 
stay long in Perga, on their first arrival in Asia ; 
and this may be one reason why they stopped 
there so long on their return. 

From Perga they went to Attalia. This city 
lay near the mouth of the little river Cestros, 
on which Perga was situated. It was a place 
at which they did not stop when they went out 
on their mission. They went directly by it, to 
Perga. We are quite at a loss again, in regard 
to their stay at this place. It is not certain that 
they went here for any other purpose than to 
embark, as Attalia was the nearest sea-port to 
their own country, Syria. And yet it is not im- 
probable that they preached the gospel here,* if 
we consider well all the circumstances. The 
Author of the " Life and travels" says, — prob- 
ably with truth,- 1 — that during the fifth and sixth 
centuries, the church here had a bishop. 



* One recent writer tells us, that Paul, according to 
his invariable practice, preached the gospel and held forth 
the things of salvation to the inhabitants; though he mod- 
estly acknowledges that he does not know with what success. 
Would it not be difficult for this writer to show that Paul's 
invariable practice was to " preach" in every city he came tol 



132 FIRST FOREIGN MISSION. 

Having finished their labors in Asia Minor, 
they embarked on board a vessel bound to An- 
tioch, in Syria, the place from which they had 
originally set out on their journey. Instead of 
returning by way of Cyprus, they appear to have 
gone directly there, by the nearest route. This 
made their journey much shorter than if they 
had gone round by the way they went out. No 
particulars are given of this voyage, which was 
probably short and prosperous. We only know 
that they arrived safe at Antioch. 

Their brethren at Antioch received them glad- 
ly. They had been absent, it is believed, about 
two years. Others, however, think it was only 
one year. Others, still, say about three. At all 
events it was a long and perilous journey, espe- 
cially at that day, and in that condition of the 
world. It was nearly as much of a task as it 
now is for American Missionaries to go to Africa 
or Patagonia ; and attended with as much dan- 
ger. 

When they were come to Antioch, they took 
an early opportunity of collecting the church to- 
gether, and of giving them an account of their 
journey and success. They dwelt particularly 
on their success among the Gentiles, and on the 



ARRIVAL AT ANTIOCH. 133 

manner of their reception by that idolatrous 
people. It must have been a noble sight to see 
a church composed chiefly of Jews, with all the 
prejudices of that people against the Gentiles, 
rejoicing together that God had opened to them 
a door of mercy as well as to themselves; and it 
shows, in a remarkable manner, the tendency 
of Christianity to render man more charitable 
and liberal towards his fellow-man. It is not 
Chrstianity itself, in its purity, but mistaken 
notions of it, that make men narrow and illib- 
eral in their feelings towards others, and un- 
charitable in the judgment they form of their mo- 
tives and purposes. 

The sacred writer gives us no further partic- 
ulars concerning this mission. Paul and Bar- 
nabas, after their return, remained, for some 
time, at Antioch ; and we hear no more of the 
churches they had formed in Asia Minor till the 
visit of Paul and Silas to the same region, which 
happened sometime afterward. 

12 



REVIEW OF THE JOURNEY, AND 
CONCLUDING REMARKS. 

Thus we have finished an account of the first 
foreign mission ever undertaken. The great 
Founder of Christianity had indeed, many years 
before, traversed the land of Galilee several times, 
as well as gone over some parts of Samaria and 
Judea, but he never went out of Syria. He 
had also sent out missionaries — first twelve in 
number, and afterwards seventy — to traverse the 
same country, only the twelve were commanded . 
not to enter into any of the cities of the Samar- 
itans.* These, however, were domestic or home 
missions ; and were confined to one nation, the 
Jews. 

The honor of being first sent on a mission 

* Syria, or Palestine, or what might be called the land of 
the Jews, consisted of three great divisions lying along the 
eastern end of the Mediterranean sea; Galilee in the north, 
Samaria in the middle, and Judea in the south. Palestine ex- 
tended eastward somewhat further than the river Jordan. 



DECISION OF CHARACTER. 135 

into a foreign country, was reserved for Paul 
and Barnabas. And a better selection could not 
have been made. This is obvious, 

1. From their remarkable adaptation to such 
a service. Barnabas was a good man, advanced 
in years, grave, full of faith, cool, steady, but 
persevering : Paul, young, ardent, warmly de- 
voted to the cause of God, bold and intrepid. 
Together, they made a host; and in them might 
have been verified the prediction of the prophet : 
" One shall chase a thousand, and two put ten 
thousand to flight." 

2. The wisdom of the selection is seen in the 
result. They did not wait, weeks or days, loung- 
ing about, after they were appointed to go ; they 
set out immediately. When Ledyard, the Amer- 
ican traveller was once appointed to go out and 
explore Africa, he was waited upon in a pro- 
per manner, and his appointment made known. 
On being asked, when he would be ready to set 
out, he replied " To-morrow." Paul and Bar- 
nabas manifested much of the same spirit, in a 
cause far better and holier.* 



* How different was the character of John Mark ! Who 
is not pained by the comparison. So we have timid Christ- 
ians, — too many of them, — now-a-days. 



136 FIRST FOREIGN MISION. 

Neither do we hear of their misspending any 
time; either on the road, or at the places where 
they stopped. Doubtless they ate and drank, as 
well as other men ; but they ate and drank to 
sustain life and health, and not merely for the 
sake of gratifying the senses. They did not 
probably sit an hour or two at table, tempting 
their palates with new dishes of food, after the 
old ones had begun to be insipid. No doubt 
they sat as long as was necessary ; and regarded 
so much time as w r as required for masticating 
their food thoroughly, as very properly employed. 
But this was all. 

No doubt they allowed themselves time for 
sleep. But we cannot very well conceive of them 
as dozing away the time after the purposes of 
nature were answered. I suppose they retired 
early, and rose early. Does any one believe 
that such men as Paul and Barnabas sat up half 
the night to eat, and drink, and carouse, and then 
lie in bed the next morning, to make it up ? — 
Every individual, would revolt from such a 
thought. Every one believes that men of their 
character would rise with the sun, if not earlier. 

There can be little doubt that they allowed 
themselves time for conversation, on the com- 



MISSIONARY CHARACTER. 137 

mon concerns of life. Their great business was, 
indeed, to save men's souls ; but they needed 
moments of relaxation, were it only for health's 
sake. The bow cannot always remain bent, 
without losing its elasticity, Neither is it best 
for the interets of religion that the minister or 
missionary should never converse on but a single 
topic. The world would soon regard him as a 
mystic, or as a being conversant rather with the 
spiritual world only; and ignorant both of the 
character and wants of such a world as this. 

But it does not follow that because a minis- 
ter should converse on these topics, he is justi- 
fied in spending too much time on them, or in 
manifesting a very deep interest in them. He 
should indeed, take an interest in every thing ; 
but his favorite topic should be the concerns of 
the soul ; and the world should see this to be the 
fact. " Where our treasure is, there will our 
hearts be," principally ; and " Out of the abun- 
dance of the heart, the mouth speaketh." 

I have often observed that a good story, well 
told, by some person not belonging to the min- 
istry, has had as much influence on those who 
heard it, as a good sermon probably would have 
had. Now Paul was skilled in the knowledge of 
12* 



138 FIRST FOREIGN MISSION. 

human nature ; and I cannot doubt that both he 
and Barnabas effected a great deal among the 
people where they went, by conversation on va- 
rious common topics, as well as those which 
were regarded as strictly religious. 

We cannot, indeed, conceive of these holy 
men as joining in conversation on idle or unim- 
portant subjects, or as being loud, or boisterous, 
or overbearing, or as indulging in loud laughing, 
or in noisy mirth, or in idle story telling ; above 
all, in foolish jesting. A Christian missionary, 
or any other Christian, would hardly allow him- 
self, we may hope, in things of this sort. Cer- 
tainly he could not do so long with a quiet con- 
science. 

And when Paul and Barnabas did join in the 
common conversation of the Cypriots, the Pisid- 
ians, and the Phrygians or the Lycaonians, 
there is good reason to believe that they always 
embraced, with great joy, every opportunity of 
throwing out something connected with that 
great subject which was dearer to them than all 
else, even their lives. They no doubt made the 
company feel that they took great pleasure in 
their society, and in conversation with them on 
the things which chiefly occupied their thoughts : 



MISSIONARY HABITS. 139 

but that however happy they were under these 
circumstances, they were much happier when 
conversing on something more directly impor- 
tant to their spiritual welfare. Every Christian, 
much more every Missionary, greatly misses his 
mark, if he does not let the world perceive — 
and plainly too — that he is most at home in what 
may properly and strictly be called religious 
conversation ; for in no other way can he ever 
succeed in doing all the good in his power, but 
by making his example a daily comment upon 
his principles. 

It would strike us very unfavorably were we 
to be told that Paul, who was yet rather young, 
spent a great deal of time in dressing himself, 
with a view to make a favorable impression on 
the minds of those around him. I do not sup- 
pose one in ten of my readers ever thought of 
him in this light. They doubtless conceive of 
him as a plain man, plainly though neatly dress- 
ed ; and as avoiding, rather than seeking to 
produce a mere effect. 

We are indeed told that " his bodily presence," 
was " weak, and his speech contemptible." I 
have spoken of Paul, in this respect, because 
whatever might bethought of him, nobody would, 



140 FIRST FOREIGN MISSION. 

for one moment, suppose Barnabas could be in- 
clined to any thing like foppery. But Paul, we 
may be assured was as plain in his dress as 
Barnabas, and as all Christians ought to be. It 
would be difficult to conceive of either of them, 
whether we view them as Missionaries, or simply 
as Christians, as being negligent of their person, 
or dress. 

Will any reader suppose that the business of 
a missionary, all absorbing as it is, prevented 
Paul and Barnabas from attending to the com- 
mon duties and civilities of life 1 Paul had rel- 
atives at Tarsus : perhaps a father, and mother, 
and brethren and sisters. Barnabas, we may rea- 
sonably suppose had relatives in Cyprus. John 
Mark, who went part of the way with them, had 
a mother in Jerusalem. Did they forget them? . 

It is true we no where read that Barnabas cal- 
led on any of his friends in Cyprus ; nor do we 
learn that either he or Paul received or transmit- 
ted letters to those friends in whom they may be 
supposed to have taken an unfeigned and hearty 
interest. 

But suppose Smith and Dwight's ' Researches 
in Asia,' or ' Stewart's visit to the South Seas,' 
with a discourse to the heathen of considerable 



LETTER WRITING. 141 

length, were all to be compressed into a space 
no longer than two chapters, or. about 80 verses, 
of the New Testament ; do you think it would 
leave much room for accounts of their corres- 
pondence with relatives and friends? Now the 
Holy Spirit has not seen fit to direct the writer 
of the "Acts," to devote a larger portion of those 
acts tothejjtory of this journey, than I have men- 
tioned. And instead of wondering that so short 
an account embraces no more of what may be 
called the private character of these two individ- 
uals, for my own part I am surprised that it should 
contain so much. 

The difficulty of transmitting letters to and 
from foreign countries, in those days, was so 
great, that I do not suppose our two missionaries 
either wrote or received letters, very often. But 
it is not likely that they neglected any favorable 
opportunity of doing so. If we should even sup- 
pose that Barnabas, himself, could not write, Paul 
could write for him. And though few persons 
there knew how to write, and many of their rel- 
atives, must be expected to have been ignorant 
of this art, it is probable they had at least one 
scribe in a family. And it is not those to whom 
it is most difficult, who correspond with their 



142 FIRST FOREIGN MISSION. 

friends least ; but often, strange as it may seem, 
the very contrary. The greater the facilities for 
better writing to each other, the more, too com- 
monly, we are apt to neglect it. 

The notion that the Christian course, requires 
or naturally leads us to neglect our friends and 
relatives is as erroneous, as it is unfortunate. 
That it sometimes requires us to forsake them, 
no one will deny. There are cases wliere an in- 
dividual is called to forsake all that he has, and 
all his friends ; yes, and give up his life also, in 
order to be Christ's disciple. But such cases are 
rare ; and whenever they do occur, we are no 
where told thta in giving up or forsaking friends 
we are to cease to love them. 

No ; there is no man on earth who loves his 
friends better than the Christian. "Who ever 
showed more true affection for his relatives than 
the Savior ? — Think of him on the cross, in al- 
most the last act of his life, saying to a beloved 
disciple ; " Behold thy mother !" As if he 
had said ; " In her declining years, she needs 
much consolation and aid. I am about to leave 
the world. Take her home with you, let her 
spend the evening of her days in the bosom of 
your family." He said also to the mother; 
" Behold thy son!" 



MISSIONARY CHARACTER. 143 

Every person, in proportion as he possesses 
the spirit of Christ, will love his friends. But 
his great love for them will make it only the 
more painful to him to leave them, when duty 
calls him. Still he will go. That it is his duty, 
that it is the will of God, is sufficient. He loves 
his friends and their society most dearly, but he 
must obey God. He loves his approbation better 
than he loves his friends, and his home. 

Paul and Barnabas attended closely to their 
business. To preach Christ, and him crucified, 
was their great object. To this end, they made 
every thing else subservient. Paul had a trade ; 
that of tent making, as we have already seen. 
Barnabas, too, was undoubtedly familiar with 
some handicraft employment, like all the rest of 
the Jews. But we do not read that for fear of 
want, or for any other worldly reason, they spent 
any of their time in working at their trade. 
Still less did they intermeddle with the concerns 
of others. They did not stop to condemn an 
individual for following a particular employment, 
unless that employment was notoriously inju- 
rious to himself and society. They did not stop 
to witness petty or even large disputes among 
the people with whom they were residing. 



144 FIRST FOREIGN MISSION. 

No ; if ever men complied with the old max- 
im that " every man should mind his own busi- 
ness" they were the first foreign missionaries. 

Paul and Barnabas doubtless remembered, 
during this and every other journey they made, 
the injunction of Joseph to his brethren, on a 
certain occasion ; " See that ye fall not out by 
the way !" How strange is it that Christians, 
a people whose very religion is love, — love to 
God, exemplified in love to one another and the 
world generally, — should ever need to be cau- 
tioned against angry contention and quarrels ! 
But so it is. The more advanced in a life of 
holiness have to labor to keep their passions in 
subjection, and need frequent and earnest cau- 
tion ; how much more then the young convert 
He is liable to fall oftener, and more greviously, 
Will he not then rejoice, if he should be admon- 
ished by the soft but gentle voice of a brother 
And will he be soon tired of his remonstrances 

For what purpose, young Christian, dost thou 
live, but to get forward, — to press thy way, as 
it were, — to the kingdom of God ? And for 
what purpose hast thou left the ranks of the 
world, where almost all, either unconsciously or 
by design, were helping thee along in the down- 



MISSIONARY CHARACTER. 145 

ward road, and joined the ranks of those who 
have their faces heavenward, believing that the 
hour of their " redemption," from the power 
and penalty of sin, " draweth nigh," but that 
thou mightest be urged upward, as before thou 
hadst been downward ? " See, then, that ye re- 
fuse not the voice of him that speaketh." 

And ye who have not yet left the thronged 
and wide road, and betaken yourselves to that 
which, though more strait and narrow, has a 
happier termination, is there nothing for you to 
learn from the example of the holy, harmless, 
unspotted, and devoted life of Paul ? Is there 
one of you who doubts that he was, most emi- 
nently, a happy man ? Is there one who would 
not exchange your present joys — to say nothing 
of future hopes — for those of the great apostle 
o^the Gentiles ? 

You have followed him through this important 
mission. You have seen his noble principles, by 
his practice. In reviewing his progress, I have 
shown negatively, or rather by way of inference, 
what, in many things he and Barnabas did not 
do, by showing what they did do. So it is ever 
proper to do. There are certain parts, if I may 
so say, of character, — the fruits of certain prin- 
13 



146 FIRST FOREIGN MISSION. 

ciples implanted deeply in the heart, — which if 
once right, and uniformly so, all is right. You 
see the man in half a dozen varied trials, you 
may judge almost with certainty what he would 
be in twenty others. 

We might have made many more inferences 
in regard to the conduct of these holy men. For 
suppose they were absent only a year, though it 
was probably much nearer two, if not three ; 
what were they doing all this time ? How little 
do we hear of their proceedings ! We know, 
indeed, that they built up churches ; we know 
they traveled, and labored, and suffered. But the 
country they traversed was comparatively small ; 
there was much difficulty in collecting congrega- 
tions, except on the Sabbath, at the synagogues ; 
how then did they employ the many hours which 
must have intervened between their seasons of 
activity, and those which are sometimes called 
hours of leisure 1 

We should remember that there was nothing 
wanting in those cities to gratify the unhallowed 
feelings of those who were not prepared to resist 
temptation. Depraved as human nature is, men 
have never found difficulty, especially in thickly 
settled places, of providing for sensual gratifica- 



MISSIONARY TRIALS. 147 

lion. Gluttony, intemperance, and lust, could 
not otherwise then have been common, in such 
places as Paphos, where a temple was erected to 
the worship of Venus! Nor can we doubt that 
eating, and drinking houses, as well as other re- 
sorts for the vicious, every where abounded. If 
there were no theatres or other places of entice- 
ment to the young, which often serve as avenues 
to places of worse fame, there must have been, 
and undoubtedly was, something of the kind, 
which stood in the same place, and subserved 
the purposes of Satan in the same manner. We 
are not then to suppose that such men as Paul 
— young, ardent and sanguine, — had no temp- 
tations. That they were met and promptly and 
nobly overcome, there can be no doubt. But if 
the Founder of our Religion, who "spake as nev- 
er man spake" and acted as never man acted, 
was tempted in all 'points as we are, surely 
Paul could not have escaped trial. 

How excellent is a friend ! How adapted to 
our wants ! What happier provision did human 
foresight ever make for human necessity than 
the church of Antioch made, in sending out with 
a young man, to counsel, advise, befriend and 
sustain him, the wise, aged, excellent Barnabas. 



148 FIRST FOREIGN MISSION. 

Well might Paul love, honor, and respect him. 
The youth that has such a friend as Paul had, 
in this excursion to Asia Minor, can never be 
enough thankful to God the giver. But the re- 
marks in this paragraph, bring me to my third 
and concluding reflection. 

3. It was not human wisdom or foresight 
alone, that united these two men in this great 
and important enterprise. It was the Spirit 
of God. We want no higher proof, if we could 
have it, that the selection was judicious. The 
character of the men, and the results of their 
labors prove all that human foresight and ob- 
servation can do; but God has put his seal to 
the matter, in that he set them apart by his 
Holy Spirit to act as pioneers in the first, if not 
the noblest mission to the heathen world which 
we have on record. 



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